^3  so 


i 


J 


tn 


O 
tn 


AN  OUTLINE  OF  THE 


HISTORY  OF  CLERICAL  CELIBACY 


IN 


WESTERN  EUROPE 


TO  THE   COUNCIL  OF  TRENT 


BY 

EARL  EVELYN  SPERRY,  Ph.  B. 

SOMETIME    UNIVERSITY    FELLOW    IN    HISTORY,    COLUMBIA    UNIVERSITY.       INSTRUCTOR 
IN   EUROPEAN   HISTORY,    SYRACUSE  UNIVERSITY 


Submitted  in  Partial  Fulfilment   of   the  Recjuiremrnts  for  the  Decree 

OF  Doctor  of  Philosophy,  in  the  Faculty  of  Political  Science 

Columbia  University 


SYRACUSE.   N.  Y.: 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE  AUI'HOR 

1905 


•     •        »   »    t 
tit      >    *  ■ 


SYRACUSE,   N.  Y.: 

THE   LYMAN   PRESS 

1905 


•  •  •  • 
I  •  •  •      • 


•  •• 

•  •  • 


•  •• 

•  •   ■ 


•  •  •     •  •  •     •  * 


^3. 


'^ 


PREFACE 

The  purpose  of  this  thesis  is  to  review  the  essential  facts 
concerning  the  origin  of  clerical  celibacy,  its  development  and 
effects  in  western  Europe  to  the  time  of  the  Council  of  Trent, 
and  to  present  such  extracts  from  the  sources  as  are  of  special 
interest  and  importance  in  the  history  of  this  subject.  Mr. 
Henry  C.  Lea's  "Historical  Sketch  of  Sacerdotal  Celibacy  in  the 
Christian  Church"  has  been  used  as  a  guide  throughout,  and 
in  cxhaustivcness  and  scholarship  stands  preeminent  among 
the  works  upon  the  subject. 

E.  E.  Sperry. 

Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  Mar.  i,  1905. 


Ill 


4.5a08^ 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

At  the  outset  it  may  be  well  to  warn  the  reader  that  in  form- 
ing an  opinion  concerning  clerical  morality  there  are  certain 
important  facts  which  should  be  kept  constantly  in  mind.  The 
written  evidence  upon  the  subject  which  has  been  preserved 
seems  to  indicate  that  during  the  Middle  Ages  and  the  opening 
centuries  of  the  modem  period  the  clergy  as  a  class  were  very 
immoral.  It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  the  period 
of  time  under  discussion  is  a  long  one,  extending  from  the  fourth 
to  the  sixteenth  century,  and  while  the  sources  of  information 
are  comparatively  abundant,  it  is  unreasonable  to  suppose 
that  they  give  us  a  fair  and  adequate  picture  of  the  clergy  of 
all  Europe  for  more  than  a  millennium.  Further,  these  sources 
consist  largely  of  conciHar  enactments  and  of  the  utterances 
of  those  engaged  in  reform.  It  is  evident  that  they  must  be 
used  with  caution,  for  a  future  student  who  judged  the  nine- 
teenth century  only  by  its  codes  of  criminal  law  and  the  denun- 
ciatory writings  of  social  reformers  would  obtain  a  grotesque 
idea  of  its  current  morality. 

Moreover,  although  the  principal  sources  consist  of  the  writ- 
ings of  the  friends  of  the  church  they  must  not  be  given  full 
credence,  ^  because  their  authors  were  in  the  habit  of  resorting 

'To  illuHtnite:  Peter  of  Blois,  who  had  vuinly  endeavored  to  compel  the 
clergy  of  hi.s  I-:riglish  benefice  to  obey  the  rule  of  celil)acy,  wrote  thus  to  Inno- 
cent III.  concerning  them:  Ipsi  vero  publice  et  aperte  fornicantes  pra'dicel)ant, 
sicut  Sodonui  peccatuiil  suum,  et  in  palpcl)ri.s  popularis  infainifc  duccl)ant 
uxorcs,  alter  altcrius  filiain,  sive  nepterii,  taiitaquerat  c()gnati()iii.s  conncxio 
inter  eos  ut  colligationcs  impietatis  eorum  nemo  dissoluere  prajvaleret.  .  .  . 
Erant  enim  qua.si  squama;  Behemoth,  (juarum  una  uni  coniuiigitur,  ct  apiraru- 
lum  vit;n  non  incedit  per  eas.  Terra  proinde  clamabat  advorsus  eas,  ct  ca-li 
revelebant  iniquitates  eorum.  Exactissima  diligentia  laboral)ain  vitioruin 
in  els  propagines  venenosos  excidere,  sed  facilius  convertercm  lupos  in  oves, 
et  feras  in  homine.9.  Petri  Bleacnsis,  Ep.  152.  Bib.  Max.  Pat.  2\,  1004. 
Yet  the  only  specific  charge  which  Pet<;r  l^rings  against  these  men  of  whom  he 
uses  such  strong  terras  of  objurgation  is  that  they  were  married. 


VI 

to  a  species  of  rhetorical  denunciation  in  which  gross  exagger- 
ation was  an  essential  concomitant. 

Another  consideration  must  also  be  reckoned  with  when 
weighing  the  statements  of  mediaeval  churchmen  concerning 
clerical  molality.  As  priests  were  not  only  forbidden  to  marry, 
but  early  in  the  twelfth  century  were  declared  incapable  of 
contracting  a  valid  marriage,  those  who  dwelt  with  women 
conjugally  were  adulterers  in  the  eyes  of  the  church  and  were 
so  described  in  canons,  decretals  and  the  writings  of  the  time. 
Similarly,  the  w^omen  who  lived  with  them  conjugally  were 
described  as  concubines.  This  view  is  substantiated  by 
Jacob  Wimpheling  for  example,  who,  under  the  caption, 
"Concerning  the  Blindness  of  concubinary  Priests,"  thus 
describes  this  class  of  priests  in  Germany  just  before  the  open- 
ing of  the  Protestant  Revolt :  "  They  think  less  of  their  parents 
and  friends  than  of  their  concubines,  dwelling  with  them  to  the 
end  of  their  lives  as  if  true  and  legitimate  spouses.  They 
allow  them  the  full  control  of  their  households  so  that  the 
other  members  of  the  family  must  obey.  They  dress  them  ex- 
pensively and  esteem  them  as  highly  as  their  mothers  and 
sisters.  And,  posterity  will  scarcely  believe  it,  when  pregnant, 
the  women  are  not  ejected  from  the  house,  but  allowed  to  be 
confined  there.  After  the  birth  a  festival  is  held  as  is  the 
custom  with  laymen.  The  sons  and  daughters  are  provided 
with  dowries  and  given  in  marriage  with  magnificent  weddings 
at  which  the  fathers  themselves  are  present."^  Although 
Wimpheling  here  stigmatizes  the  consorts  of  the  priests  as 
concubines,  and  in  a  preceding  passage  as  harlots,  he  evidently 
is  describing  women  who  were  treated  in  all  respects  as  wives, 
save  that  the  legal  forms  of  marriage  had  been  omitted. 

Finally,  the  general  question  presents  itself,  how  far  the  rule 
of  celibacy  was  itself  responsible  for  such  sexual  immorality 
as  seems  generally  to  have  prevailed  among  the  mediaeval 
clergy?  Those  who  are  inclined  to  attribute  the  debasement 
of  the  clergy  to  the  church's  prohibition  of  marriage  should 

*  Apologia,  13. 


vu 


recollect,  however,  that  its  laws  appear  to  have  been  least 
observed  during  the  very  period  when,  to  judge  from  the 
writers  of  the  time,  sacerdotal  morality  reached  its  lowest  ebb. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

Clerical  Marriage  in  the  Apostolic  Church. 

Praise  of  Virginity  in  the  New  Testament. 

Tendency  to  Asceticism  in  the  Religious  Thought  of  that  Period. 

Recommendations  Concerning  Matrimony  by  the  Church  Fathers. 

Clerical  Marriage  to  325  A.  D. 

Failure  of  Council  of  Nicsea  (325)  to  Interfere  with  the  Married  Clergy. 

Early  Restrictions  Upon  the  Marriage  of  Christian  Ministers. 

Decree  of  the  Council  of  Elvira  (306). 

Decretal  of  Siricius,  Bishop  of  Rome  (385). 

Marriage  Among  the  Clergy  of  the  East. 

Influences  Favorable  to  Celibacy  in  the  West. 

Provisions  of  the  Secular  Law  in  Regard  to  Clerical  Marriage. 

Efforts  of  the  Bishops  of  the  West  to  Enforce  "Continence"  Among  the 

Married  Clergy. 
New  Restrictions  Upon  the  Marriage  of  the  Minor  Orders. 
Decretals  of  Leo  the  Great  Concerning  Celibacy. 
Laws  of  Justinian. 
His  Motives. 
Canons  of  the  Council  of  Constantinople  (692). 

Disobedience  Among  the  Clergy  of  the  West. 

Reasons  for  it  and  Evidence  that  it  Existed. 

Danger  to  Church  Property  Accompanying  Clerical  Marriage. 
Measures  of  Gregory  I.  to  Secure  Obedience. 

Degradation  of  the  Clergy. 

Evidence  Concerning  it  by  Pelagius  II.,  St.  Boniface  and  in  Conciliar 
Enactments. 

Measures  of  Karlomann  and  Louis  the  Pious  to  Reform  the  Clergy. 

Prevalence  of  Clerical  Marriage. 

Diminution  of  Ecclesiastical  Property. 

Continuance  of  Clerical  Marriage. 

Zeal  of  Peter  Dainiani  for  Celil>acy. 

Efforts  to  Suppress  Clerical  Marriage. 

Prohibition  to  Attend  Mius-scs  of  Married  Priests  by  Council  of  Rome  (1059) 

Defence  of  Married  Clergy  by  Argument. 

Motives  of  I'eter  Damiani. 

His  Efforts  for  Reform. 

Gregory  VIL's  Theory  of  Papal  Supremacy  and  Connection  of  Celibacy 
with   It. 

His  Measures  to  Secure  Obedience. 

ix 


Appeal  to  Secular  Authority. 

Release  of  People  from  Obedience  to  Married  Clergy. 

Opposition   of   Married  Clergy   to   His  Measures  and   their  Arguments 

Against  Celibacy. 
Replies  of  the  Advocates  of  Celibacy. 
Effect  Upon  Society  of  Gregory's  Measures. 
Result  of  His  Efforts. 

Canons  of  the  Lateran  Councils  of  1123  and  1139. 
Contradiction  of  Gratian. 
Decretal  of  Alexander  III. 
Effect  of  Vows  in  Preventing  Marriage. 
Clerical  Marriage  in  the  Various  Countries  of  Europe. 
Heredity  of  Church  Property. 
Efforts  of  Innocent  III.  to  Enforce  Celibacy. 
Results  of  Enforcement  of  Celibacy. 

Legislation  Concerning  Consorts  and  Children  of  the  Clergy. 
Licentiousness  of  the  Clergy. 
Decretal  of  Boniface  VIII. 
Clerical  Morality  in  the  Fourteenth  Century. 
In  the  Fifteenth. 

Desire  of  the  People  that  the  Clergy  Marry. 
Opposition  to  Celibacy  Among  Ecclesiastics. 
Morals  of  the  Clergy  in  the  Sixteenth  Century. 
Connection  with  Protestant  Revolution. 
Canons  of  the  Council  of  Trent. 


Clerical  Celibacy  in  Western  Europe 
to  the  council  of  trent 


The  New  Testament  affords  little  information  concerning 
marriage  among  the  ministers  of  the  Apostolic  church. 
Whether  or  not  all  the  Apostles  were  married  cannot  be  de- 
termined, there  being  an  incidental  reference  to  the  wife  of 
Peter  alone.  ^  It  is  certain,  however,  that  clerical  marriage 
was  not  viewed  with  disapprobation  in  that  period,  for  St.  Paul 
has  left  descriptions  of  an  ideal  bishop,  elder  and  deacon  in 
which  he  mentions  as  a  qualification  conducive  to  their  effici- 
ency that  they  should  be  husbands  of  one  wife,  ruling  their 
children  well.^ 

Concerning  marriage  in  general,  the  words  of  Christ  show 
that  he  regarded  it  as  the  most  sacred  and  indissoluble  of 
human  relations, ^  and  St.  Paul  considered  it  an  institution 
salutary  in  its  effect  upon  the  individual  and  society.*  That 
the  founders  of  the  Christian  church  not  only  approved  of 
marriage,  but  resisted  any  attempt  to  bring  it  into  disrepute, 
is  shown  by  St.  Paul's  prophecy  concerning  the  heresies  which 
were  to  afflict  the  church,  among  which  he  included  the  pro- 
hibition to  marry.  ^ 

But  contemporary  with  the  belief  that  wedlock  was  a  bene- 
ficent institution,  and,  as  a  rule,  necessary  to  moral  uprightness, 
was  a  tendency  to  exalt  virginity.  Christ  himself  intimated 
that  those  who  refrained  from  marriage  were  superior  in  moral 
worth  to  all  others,  and  while  admitting  that  all  natures  were 
not  capable  of  such  restraint,  recommended  that  those  who 

>  Matt.  8,  14. 

'  I  Tim.  3,  2,  4.     I  Tim.  3,  12.     Titus  1,  G. 

'  Mutt,.    19,  4,  sqq. 

♦  1  Cor.  7,  2. 

»  Now  the  spirit  speaketh  expressly  that  in  the  latter  times  some  slmll 
depart  from  the  faith,  n,\\'\uK  h<'<'<l  Uy  Kcdiiciiig  .spirits  and  doctrincH  of  devils. 
I'orijidding  to  marry  and  conimandinj;  l*j  abstain  from  meats.— 1  Tim. 
4,  1,  3. 

1 


,( 


/^C\ 


had  sufficient  self-control  should  remain  celibates.^  St.  Paul, 
although  he  approved  of,  and  encouraged  matrimony,  ^  shared 
the  conviction  that  it  was  a  less  holy  state  than  virginity  ;3 
and  in  the  Book  of  Revelatioi(gAhe  redeemed  are  described  as 
"They  which  were  not  defiled  with  women;  for  they  are 
virgins."* 

Associated  with  the  belief  that  virginity  was  the  condition 
of  life  most  pleasing  to  God  and  a  proof  of  the  highest  moral 
character  was  another  motive  for  abstaining  from  marriage. 
It  was  the  conviction  that  celibacy  enabled  the  Christian  to 
give  his  undivided  attention  to  the  service  of  God  and  prepara- 
tion for  the  life  to  come.  This  reason  was  set  forth  clearly  by 
St.  Paul  in  the  words,  "He  that  is  unmarried  careth  for  the 
things  that  belong  to  the  Lord,  how  he  may  please  the  Lord. 
But  he  that  is  married  careth  for  the  things  that  are  of  the 
world,  how  he  may  please  his  wife.'^ 

Whatever  beliefs  concerning  celibacy  the  early  Christians 
may  have  obtained  from  the  Scriptures  were  re-enforced  by 
similar  doctrines  which  permeated  the  religious  thought  of  that 
period.  During  the  first  three  centuries  of  the  Christian  era 
there  swept  over  the  countries  lying  to  the  east  and  southeast 
of  Europe  an  enthusiasm  for  virginity  similar  to  that  for 
poverty  which,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  spread  through 
western  Europe.  It  had  its  basis  in  the  dualistic  conception 
of  the  universe  which  underlay  so  much  of  the  philosophy  and 
the  religion  of  that  time  and  which  set  in  opposition  the  spiri- 
tual and  the  material.  This  passion  for  the  abnegation  of 
man's  physical  nature  became  the  source  of  numerous  sects 
which  made  condemnation  of  marriage  a  principal  tenet  of 
their  faith.  ^ 

'  Matt.  19,  11,  12. 

'  1  Cor.  7,  2.     1  Cor.  7,  9.     See  alao  1  Cor.  7,  28. 
'  1  Cor.  1,  1,  8. 
«  Rev.  14,  4. 
'  1  Cor.  7,  32,  33. 

•  Stromata  of  Clement  of  Alexandria.  Pat.  Gr.  8,  1147  sqq.,  1206  sqq. 
Epiphanius,  ad  versus  Haereses,  Pat.  Gr.  41,  1011. 


Orthodox  Christianity  was  profoundly  influenced  by  the 
earnest  propaganda  of  these  fanatics;  and  although  the  pre- 
cepts of  the  founder  of  Christianity  did  not  enjoin  cehbacy,  Oi 
even  recommend  that  it  should  be  generally  practiced,  these 
teachings  exercised  an  incalculable  influence  upon  the  early 
church.  A  striking  illustration  of  the  power  of  this  influence 
is  found  in  the  fanaticism  of  Origen,  who,  although  a  pupil  of 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  went  to  the  extreme  of  self-mutilation.  ^ 

Thus  the  great  churchmen  of  the  first  centuries  of  the 
Christian  era  were  within  the  influence  of  a  powerful  sentiment 
which  exalted  virginity;  and  at  the  same  time,  in  Christ's 
preference  for  it,  they  could  find  an  orthodox  warrant  for 
yielding  to  whatever  inclination  they  might  have  to  follow  the 
impulses  then  common  to  religious  natures.  With  these  forces 
acting  upon  them,  they  decried  matrimony  in  their  voluminous 
writings  which  became  the  foundation  of  Roman  Catholic 
doctrine,  and  recommended  celibacy  as  a  condition  of  life  for 
Christians  more  holy  and  fitting  than  wedlock.  Their  pre- 
dominant motive  was  probably  the  feeling  that  virginity  was 
superior  even  to  the  most  natural  and  moderate  self-indulgence. 
The  reasons  which  they  adduced  in  favor  of  the  unmarried 
state  vary  from  their  own  bare  assertions  that  it  is  the  holiest 
condition  2  to  the  argument  that  those  so  hving  will  be  free 
from  the  cares  and  vexations  of  marriage.^  The  self-denial 
requisite  to  such  a  hfe  was  declared  to  l)e  an  infafliblc  menus 
of  obtaining  salvation  and  a  proof  of  supreme  moral  worth, 

'  EiiHchiiiH  vi,  8. 

The  zeal  of  many  of  tho  clorgj-  who  were  umlcr  these  ascetic  influences  must 
have  led  them,  like  Origen,  to  fanatical  extremes,  for  in  the  canons  of  Nicica 
and  in  the  Apostolic  Canons  are  prohil)itions  directed  against  such  practices. 

Siqui.s  autz-m  HaniiH  sfipsnrn  al).sfi(lit,  ctiarn  si  est  in  clcro,  ces-sare  debet; 
et  ex  hoc  nulluin  tulotn  oporUrt,  ordinari.  Con.  Nicen.  (32r>)  c.  1.  Ilarduin 
I,  324. 

Cf.  Canones  Apostolonmi,  c.  22,  Ilarduin   1,   H. 

*  Antifpiitu.s  autcm  nerdum  homo  perfectuH  orat:  ac  idco  virginit.itrMi  (rem 
utiquc  perfectam)  capcrc  nerdum  poU;rat.  Mrthodiu.s,  Convivium  decern  vir- 
ginum,  cap.  4.  Pat.  Cr.  18,  43. 

'  Hieronymus,  Ep.  ad  Eustochium.      Tatrologia  Latina  22,  409. 


surpassed  onl}^  by  martyrdom.  ^  That  the  subject  held  an 
important  place  in  the  religious  thought  of  that  age  is  shown 
by  the  numerous  treatises  upon  it;  and  the  efforts  made  in 
them  to  ascertain  the  relative  merits  of  virginity  and  marriage 
usually  result  in  .showing  the  latter  to  be  an  incomparably  less 
honorable  condition.  ^ 

The  basis  of  these  exhortations  and  injunctions  to  refrain 
from  marriage  was  the  teaching  of  Christ  that  carnal  propensi- 
ties must  be  overcome;  a  natural  conclusion  being  that  any 
relationship  favorable  to  their  gratification  was,  to  some  degree, 
evil.  While  St.  Augustine  was  filled  with  the  same  fervent 
admiration  for  virginity  to  which  St.  Jerome  gave  expression, 
his  Liber  de  Continentia  contains  no  extravagant  praises  of 
continence.  He  recognized  the  naturalness  and  necessity  of 
marriage  and  the  difficulty  of  perfect  self-restraint,  although  a1 
the  same  time  he  considered  the  latter  far  superior.  ^ 

But  the  laudations  of  celibacy  by  the  church  fathers  and  the 

'  Totum  fundamentum  etenim  sanctitatis  atque  justitiae  etiam  castitatem 
esse  dubitare  non  poterit,  quisquis  divinae  legis  exempla  tota  intentus  mente 
perspexit.  Liber  de  castitate  ascribed  to  Sixtus  III.  Magnum  Bibliotheca 
Patrum,  5,  631. 

Cyprian,  De  habitu  \'irginum.     Pat.  Lt.  4,  460-467. 

Epiphanius,  Expositio  fidei,  Cap.  21.  Pat.  Gr.  42,  823. 

*  Et  qui,  inquit,  hortaris  matrimonium  non  contrahere?  Quod  virginitatem 
matrimonio  longe  prsestantiorem  sentiam.  S.  Chrysostomus,  Liber  de  Virgini- 
tate,  cap.  9.  Pat.  Gr.  48,  539. 

Ergo  haec  laus  virginitatis  egregia  est,  ut  scilicet  statuat  quis  virtutem  ipsam 
omni  esse  laude  prsestantiorem  .  .  .  S.  Gregorius  Nysseni.  Liber  de  Virgini- 
tate,  cap.  1.  Pat.  Gr.  46,  322. 

Laudo  nuptia-s,  laudo  coniugium,  sed  quia  mihi  virginem  generant  .  .  .  S. 
Hieronymus,  Ep.  ad  Eustochium.     Pat.  Lt.  22,  406. 

.  .  .  et  illi  qui  coniugia  virginitati  sequanda  sestimant,  miseri  penitus  et 
stulti  sunt.     Sulpicius  Severus,  Dialogus  2.  Pat.  Lt.  20,  208. 

Centesimum  eplscopi  et  doctores  qui  omnibus  omnia  sunt,  sexigesimum 
clerici  et  viduse  qui  continentes  sunt,  tricesimum  laici  qui  fideles  sunt,  qui  per- 
fecte  Trinitatera  credunt.  His  amplius  non  est  in  messe  Domini.  Monachi 
vero  et  virgines  cum  centesimis  jungimus.  Synodus  S.  Patricii,  can.  18, 
Harduin  1,  1795. 

'  S.  Augustinus,  De  Bono  Conjugali,  cap.  9.  Pat.  Lt.  40,  380-381.  See  also 
Liber  de  Continentia,  cap.  1.  Pat.  Lt.  40,  349,  357. 


example  of  their  rigidh'  ascetic  lives  were  without  immediate 
effect  upon  the  discipHne  of  the  clergy.  As  neither  Christ  nor 
the  Apostles  had  enjoined  celibacy  upon  any  part  of  the 
Christian  body,  its  advocates  lacked  the  powerful  support 
which  direct  Scriptural  command  would  have  given  them; 
and  being  in  opposition  to  a  universal  and  necessary  institution, 
it  was  inevitable  that  the  adoption  of  celibacy  by  the  clergy 
was  slow. 

There  is  good  evidence  to  show  that  during  the  fourth 
century  a  continuation  of  marriage  relations  after  ordination 
was  still  permitted  b}^  the  highest  laws  of  the  church.  Certain 
members  of  the  Council  of  Nicaea  attempted  to  make  celibacy 
obligatorJ^  but  their  proposal  was  defeated.  ^  The  Council  of 
Gangra  (362)  met  the  ascetic  extremes  of  Eustathius  by  de- 
claring anathema  all  who  refused  to  accept  the  sacraments 
from  the  married  priests  or  distinguished  them  in  any  way 
from  the  unmanied.^  And  the  Apostolic  Canons,  which 
reflect  the  conditions  of  the  church  at  the  time  of  their  com- 

'  While  they  were  deUberating  about  this,  some  thought  that  a  law  ought  to 
be  pa.ssed  enacting  that  bi.shops  and  presbyters,  deacons  and  sul)deacon3 
should  hold  no  intercourse  with  the  wife  they  had  espoused  before  they 
entered  the  priesthood;  l>ut  Paphnutius,  the  confesaor,  stood  up  and  testified 
against  this  proposition;  he  said  that  marriage  was  honoralile  and  chaste,  and 
that  cohabitation  with  their  own  wives  was  chastity,  and  advised  the  synod 
not  to  frame  such  a  law,  for  it  would  l^e  difficult  to  bear,  and  might  serve  as  an 
occasion  of  incontinence  to  them  and  their  wives;  and  he  reminded  them,  that 
according  to  the  ancient  tradition  of  the  church,  those  who  were  unmarried 
when  they  t^)ok  part  in  the  coiiuuuiiion  of  sacred  orders,  were  rcc^uired  to 
remain  so,  but  that  those  who  were  married  were  not  to  put  away  their  wives. 
Sozomen,  Ecclesiastical  History,  Kk.  1,  Ch.  23.  Nicenc  and  Post-Xicenc 
Fathers,  2,  2.50.     Cf.  Socrates  Ecclesi.-istical  History,  Bk.  1 ,  Ch.  1 1 ,  Tb.  18. 

'  Quiruin'pie  disreniit  a  presbytero  rpii  uxnrom  hal)uit,  quod  iion  oporfeat 
eo  ministraiite  de  oblatione  percipere,  anathema  sit.  Con.  Oaiigrcn.sc,  (.'^02) 
c.  4.     Harduin  1,  534. 

That  celibacy  was  not  originally  an  obligation  of  church  di5ci|)line  was 
admitted  by  the  highest  mf(li:fval  authority  upon  canon  law  and  ap|)!irently 
was  a  fact  of  common  knowledge,  among  edur.itcd  men  throughout  the  Middle 
Ages.  Corpus  Juris  Canonici,  Dist.  56,  c.  13.  (Jiraldus  Cambrensis,  Genuna 
EcclesiiB,  Dist.  2,  cap.  H.      Rer.  IJrit.  .Med.  Aev.  Scr.  21,  I't.  2,  187. 


pilation,  not  earlier  than  the  close  of  the  fourth  century, 
threaten  with  deposition  all  ecclesiastics  who  dismiss  their 
wives  upon  religious  pretexts,  and  with  expulsion  from  the 
church  all  who  abstain  from  marriage  as  an  abomination.  ^ 

But  while  the  clergy  were  allowed  to  take  wives,  their  mar- 
riage had  been  under  one  restriction  from  Apostolic  times. 
The  command  of  St.  Paul  that  bishops  and  deacons  should  not 
marrj'  a  second  time-  was  the  beginning  of  a  series  of  church 
decrees  which  ultimately  went  to  the  length  of  prohibiting  all 
marriage  among  the  clergy. 

The  Council  of  Neocesarea  (held  between  314  and  325)  enacted 
a  canon  which  marks  a  long  advance  toward  the  culmination 
of  this  series  of  laws.  It  is  to  the  effect  that  a  priest  who 
marries  after  ordination  ought  to  be  deposed.^  In  the  Apos- 
tolic Canons  is  an  injunction  similar  in  nature  which  seems  to 
include  deacons  and  subdeacons,  though  no  mention  of  them  is 
made,  and  which  permitted  lectors  and  chanters  to  marry  after 
consecration  if  they  cnose.^ 

It  would  seem,  then,  that  by  the  opening  of  the  fourth 
century,  both  custom  and  ecclesiastical  law  forbade  marriage 
after  ordination  except  to  chanters  and  lectors;  and  that  the 
councils  had  positively  prohibited  the  ordination  of  a  man 

•  Si  quis  episcopus,  presbyter,  vel  diaconus,  vel  omnino  ex  sacerdotali  num- 
ero,  a  nuptiis,  camibus  et  vino,  non  propter  exercitationem  sed  propter  abomi- 
nationem  abstinet,  oblitus  quod  omnia  valde  bona,  et  quod  masculinum  et 
femininum  fecit  Deus  hominem;  .  .  .  vel  corrigatur,  vel  deponatur,  et  ex 
ecclesia  ejiciatur. — Can.  Apost.  c.  50,  Harduin  1,  22. 

'  I  Tim.  3,  2. 

»  Con.  Neo.  Harduin  1,  281. 

♦  Can.  Apost.  c.  27.     Harduin  1,  .35. 

As  early  as  the  date  of  the  Council  of  Nica'a  (325),  it  evidently  had  long  been 
the  cu.stom  that  bishops,  priests  and  deacons  should  not  marry  after  ordina- 
tion, for  Paphnutius,  in  debating  the  proposal  already  mentioned,  (page  6, 
note  1)  says:  "It  would  be  sufficient  that  such  as  had  previously  entered 
on  their  sacred  calling  should  abjure  matrimony,  according  to  the  ancient 
tradition  of  the  church;  but  that  none  .should  be  separated  from  her  to  whom, 
while  yet  unordained,  he  had  been  united."  Socrates,  Bk.  1,  Ch.  11.  Nicene 
and  Post-Nicene  Fathers,  2,  18. 


twice  married  after  baptism,  but  allowed  the  ordination  of 
men  once  married,  and  did  not  demand  a  discontinuance  of 
marital  relations  after  ordination.  The  explanation  of  the 
seeming  inconsistency  of  the  rules  allowing  those  in  orders  to 
retain  their  wives,  while  forbidding  those  who  were  unmarried 
at  the  time  of  ordination  to  take  wives,  is  probably  that  the 
lawmakers  of  the  church  felt  that  ordination  could  not  annul 
obligations  alread^^  assumed,  though  incompatible  with  the 
highest  ideals  of  the  Christian  ministry-;  but  that  when  once 
hol}'^  orders  were  taken,  the  ecclesiastic  was  bound  to  maintain 
as  nearly  as  possible  the  ideal  purity  suitable  to  his  position.^ 

Although  ecclesiastical  laws  at  the  end  of  the  third  century 
indicate  uniformity  of  custom  throughout  Christendom  in 
regard  to  clerical  marriage,  the  opening  of  the  fourth  centurj^ 
saw  an  effort  toward  its  further  restriction  in  the  west.  The 
Spanish  Council  of  Elvira  (306)  decreed  that  married  bishops, 
priests  and  deacons  should  discontinue  conjugal  relations.  ^ 
The  canon  was  merely  an  expression  of  the  authority  of  the 
local  clergy  and  was  not  of  force  beyond  the  diocevSes  of  the 
nineteen  bishops  who  made  up  the  Council,  but  it  is  the  first 
decree  proceeding  from  ecclesiastical  authority  which  ordered 
that  the  members  of  the  three  higher  orders  should  abstain 
from  their  wives.  In  the  east  contemimrary  legislation  was 
even  less  .stringent  than  the  tradition  of  the  third  centurj',  for 
it  i)ermitted  unmarried  deacons  who  did  not  take  a  vow  of 
cehbacy  at  ordination  to  marry  afterward  if  they  chose.  ^    But 

'  Sacerdotum  enim  tarn  exccllens  est  elcctio,  ut  h.TC  qu.T  in  aliis  ecclesiaj 
membris  non  vocuntur  ad  culpam,  in  illi.s  taraen  habeantur  illirita.  Loonis 
Papac  Epi.stola;  DecretaleH.  Hurduin  1,  1767.  Id  do  sarcrddtibii.s  primo  in 
loco  atatutiim  est;  dc  cpi.scopi.s,  pre.sliytcris  ct  diacoiiiI)u.H,  (pio-s  Bacrifu-iiH 
divini.s  nece.s.so  est  intercasc;  per  (juonun  nianviset  gratia  l)apti.sinatiH  traditur, 
et  corpus  Chri.sti  conficitur;  quos  non  solum  nos,  sed  ct  scriptiira  divina  com- 
pollit  e8.se  ca.stiHsiinoH.  f^anones  Synod.  Romanoniiii  ad  ('■■■lilos  F,[)i.sropos 
(c.  384),  c.  3.     Harduin   1,   1034. 

'  Placuit  in  totum  prohibcri  cpi.scopi.s,  prcsbyteris,  ac  diaronibu.s,  vcl  omni- 
bus clericis  positis  in  mini.sterio,  abstincre  se  ab  conju>iil)UH  suis,  et  non 
Kcncrare  filio.s;  quicnmqiic  vcro  fcccrit  ab  honorc  clcricatu.s  cxtcnninctur. 
Con.  Illib.  (306),  c.  33.     Harduin  1,  'J.W. 

'  Con.  Ancyra  (c.  314),  c.  10.     Harduin  1,  276. 


8 

tlicse  canons,  like  those  of  Elvira,  were  merely  local  in  effect 
and  the  onl}'  authoritative  enactments  of  these  decades  bind- 
ing upon  the  whole  church  were  those  of  the  General  Council 
of  Nicaa  (325) .  This  council  took  no  action  in  regard  to  the 
preservation  of  continence  by  the  married  clergy,  but  trust- 
worthy records  of  its  proceedings  state  that  an  attempt  was 
made  to  impose  the  rule  upon  them  and  that  the  attempt  was 
defeated  through  the  efforts  of  Paphnutius,  an  Egyptian 
bishop,  and  himself  a  celibate.  ^ 

During  the  next  sixty  years  there  are  no  records  of  formal 
action  upon  clerical  marriage  by  council  or  synod.  But  in  385 
Siricius,  Bishop  of  Rome,  in  replj^^  to  the  Bishop  of  Tarragona, 
who  had  asked  the  late  Roman  bishop,  Damasus,  for  aid  in 
compelling  his  clergy  to  obey  the  canon  of  Elvira,  issued  a 
decretal  in  which  he  commanded,  though  not  in  express  terms, 
that  the  ordained  clergy  should  cease  conjugal  relations.  ^ 
The  decretal  threatens  with  deposition  from  office  all  who 
knowingly  disobey,  and  with  incapability  of  promotion  those 
who  disobey  through  ignorance.^  The  letter  gives  no  reason 
for  imposing  the  rule  of  perfect  continence  except  the  greater 
purity  of  the  church*  and  shows  that  the  Spanish  clergy  in 
opposing  the  enforcement  of  the  canon  of  Elvira,  had  based 
their  right  to  marry  on  the  permission  given  in  Leviticus  to  the 
Hebrew  priests.^ 

The  issue  of  a  positive  command  by  Siricius  indicates  that 
he  thought  there  was  a  prospect  that  his  effort  would  find  some 

'  See  p.  6,  note  1.  For  a  discussion  of  the  authenticity  of  the  story  of 
Paphnutius,  see  Lea,  p.  50  sqq.     Hefele,  Conciliengeschichte  1,  431-5. 

'  Quorum  sanctionum  sacerdotes  omnes  atque  Levitse  insolubili  lege  con- 
BtrinKimur;  ut  a  die  ordinationis  nostrse,  sobrietati  ac  pudicitise  et  corda  nostra 
rnancipemus  et  corpora,  dummodo  per  omnia  Deo  nostro  in  his,  qurs  cotidie 
offerimus,  sacrificiis  placeamus.  Syricii  Ep.  Harduin  1,  849.  From  the  con- 
text of  this  pa-ssage  it  would  seem  that  by  "sobrietas  ac  pudicitia"  Siricius 
meant  perfect  continence. 

'lb. 

*  .  .  .  utindie  judicii,  cum  runsusadvenerit,  sine  macula  et  ruga  eampossit, 
.sicut  per  Apostfjlum  suum  instituit,  reperire.     lb. 

'  lb.     The  passage  of  Leviticus  referred  to  is  21,  14. 


support  among  the  bishops  of  Spain;  and  owing  to  the  pre- 
valence of  Priscilhanism  there  he  had  good  reason  for  encourage- 
ment. Priscilhan's  teachings,  based  upon  the  duahsm  of 
eastern  philosophj^  alreadj'  mentioned,  ^  and  having  much  in 
common  with  Manichaeism  and  Gnosticism,  were  permeated 
with  the  idea  that  the  world  and  the  kingdom  of  God  are 
mutually  opposed,  and  consequently  emphasized  the  ascetic 
tendencies  in  Christianit}',  making  their  realization  one  great 
aim  of  the  Christian  life.  He  had  numerous  followers  in 
Spain,  and  in  consequence  the  conditions  there  were  favorable 
to  the  enforcement  of  Siricius'  command. 

While  the  enactment  of  the  Canon  of  Elvira  proves  that 
these  ascetic  tendencies  were  beginning  to  influence  the  disci- 
pline of  the  clergy  in  Spain,  there  are  few  facts  from  which  to 
form  a  conclusion  as  to  the  customs  of  various  countries 
throughout  Christendom.  They  probably  varied,  the  clergy 
of  the  east  usually  retaining  their  wives  after  ordination,  and 
those  of  the  west,  particularh^  the  members  of  the  higher  orders, 
sometimes  separating  from  them.  vSocrates,  referring  to  the 
eastern  church,  states  that  the  abstinence  of  married  bishops 
from  their  wives  was  optional,  and  that  many  became  fathers.  ^ 
The  canon  of  the  Council  of  Gangra  (362)  anathematizing  those 
who  refused  the  ministrations  of  a  married  priest,  also  indicates 
that  in  the  east  the  clergy  often  continued  matrimonial  rela- 
tions unbrok'cn.^ 

Thus,  in  the  fourth  century  the  advance  in  legislation  con- 
cerning ecclesiastical  marriage  had  been  the  canon  of  tiie 
Council  of  Elvira  (306)  and  the  decretal  of  Siricius  (3S5).  Sev- 
eral tendencies  and  conditions  of  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries 
were  favorable  to  their  enforcement.  The  authority  of  the 
Bisliop  of  Rome,  now  exerted  in  behalf  of  celibacy,  was  exj)and- 
ing  and  growing  more  potent       T\]v  hierarchy  was  l)ecoming 

'  See  p.  2. 

'  Socrates,  Ecclesiastical  History,  I3k.  5,  Ch.  22.  Nicene  and  Post-Nicene 
Fathers  2,  132. 

'  .See  p.  6,  note  2. 


10 

more  thoroughly  organized  and  hence  more  easily  disciplined. 
Christianity  had  been  made  the  religion  of  the  state  and  the 
sanctions  of  the  civil  authority'  added  to  its  commands.  The 
writings  of  the  great  churchmen  inculcating  and  recommending 
virginity  were  in  course  of  production.  Monasticism  was 
spreading,  and  its  example  of  the  severest  self-mortification 
found  many  powerful  and  influential  devotees.  With  these 
forces  in  cooperation,  the  success  of  the  struggle  for  a  celibate 
clergA'   was   assured.  ^ 

But  one  important  and  efficient  aid  was  as  yet  lacking  to 
the  authorities  of  the  church  in  the  struggle  for  celibacy  which 
had  now  begun;  namely,  the  support  and  sanction  of  the 
secular  authorit3^  The  imperial  legislation  of  the  fourth  and 
earl}'  fifth  centuries  shows  that  the  influence  of  the  Emperor 
was  not  as  yet  exerted  on  the  side  of  celibacy  for  the  secular 
clergy,  and  that  the  many  exhortations  and  polemics  in  its 
behalf,  although  proceeding  from  the  greatest  churchmen  of  the 
times,  had  not  j'et  won  the  civil  authority  to  aid  in  the  estab 
lishment  of  this  rule  of  church  discipline.  In  fact  the  laws  of 
the  time  indicate  that  this  particular  form  of  asceticism  did  not 
receive  from  the  state  even  the  indirect  encouragement  which 
might  have  been  given.  For  example:  Constantius  and 
Constans,  in  granting  (353,  357)  certain  exemptions  and  privi- 
leges to  the  clerg}',  include  therein  their  wives  and  children; ^ 
and  a  law  of  almost  a  century  later  (434)  enumerates  wives 
and  children  among  the  legal  heirs  of  priests  and  bishops.^ 
Of  much  greater  significance  is  a  law  of  Honorius  and  Theodo- 
sius  (420)  regulating  the  relations  of  clerics  with  women. 
After  prohibiting  the  clergy  from  dwelling  with  other  women 
than  mothers,  sisters  or  daughters,  because  of  the  scandal 
which  might  result,  it  gives  express  approval  of  clerical  mar- 

'  Le  C^libat  Eccl^siastique,  Bocquet,  p.  109. 

'  After  making  the  grant  of  exemptions  to  the  clergy  the  law  proceeds  thus: 
"Quod  et  coniugibus  et  libcris  eorum  et  minlsteriis,  maribus  pariter  ac  feminis, 
indulgemus,  quos  a  censibus  etiam  iubemus  penseverare  immunes."  Cod. 
Theod.  Lib.  16,  Tit.  2,  c.  10.     See  also  c.  11,  14.     Haenel  1484-5,  1486,  1488-9. 

'  Cod.  Theod.  Lib.  5,  Tit.  3.     Haenel  457. 


11 

riage  by  the  statement  that  the  wives  of  the  clergy,  having  made 
their  husbands  worthy  of  the  priesthood  by  their  companion- 
ship, may  well  continue  to  associate  with  them.  ^ 

An  exception  to  the  attitude  of  the  government  at  this  time 
toward  a  celibate  clergy  is  found  in  a  law  of  Arcadius  and 
Honorius  which  recommends  that  bishops  in  making  appoint- 
ments to  the  priesthood  should  choose  monks.  ^  While  this 
recommendation,  if  followed  throughout  Christendom,  would 
have  resulted  in  producing  a  celibate  clergy,  and  therefore  may 
be  considered  an  aid  in  the  execution  of  the  purpose  of  Siricius 
and  his  party,  there  is  a  most  important  difference  in  the 
attitude  of  the  secular  and  ecclesiastical  authorities  toward 
celibacy.  The  former  here  approved  a  clergy  whose  members 
had  voluntarily  subjected  themselves  to  celibacy;  the  latter 
was  entering  upon  a  policy  of  coercion. 

The  authorities  of  the  church  were  compelled  to  undertake 
the  contest  alone,  and  stimulated  by  the  decretal  of  Siricius 
the  bishops  of  western  Europe  soon  began  the  attempt  to  force 
their  married  clergy  to  preserve  continence.  A  decretal 
addressed  to  the  African  Church  resulted  in  the  Council  of 
Carthage  (390),  which  enacted  a  canon  directed  against  the 
married  clergy  of  the  major  orders.  Moreover,  by  a  decree  to 
the  effect  that  all  who  were  concerned  in  the  administration  of 
the  sacraments  should  likewise  preserve  continence,  the  council 
extended  the  rule  to  those  in  minor  orders  who  served  at  the 
altar.-'*     The  innncnce  of    Siricius    upon  Africa  was  seconded 

'  lUas  etiiiiii  iioii  rcliiKiui  castitiiti.s  hortiilur  afTcctio,  quric  hii<o  sarcnlodiim 
maritoniin  loKitinmiii  iiioruon;  coiiiu^iuiii.  N(!(|uc  ciiiiii  clcrici.s  iiicDiiipott-'uter 
adiuncta;  .sunt,  quae  digno.s  saccrdotio  viru.s  sui  coiiversatione  fcccrunt.  Cod. 
Theod.  Lil).  16,  Tit.  2,  c.  44.     Haencl  1514. 

'  Co«l.  Thfod.  Lib.  10,  Tit.  2,  c.  :V2. 

'  Con.  Cartii.  (.'390)  c.  2.     Ilarduiii  1,  '.)51. 

This  principle  for  determining  to  what  ordern  Hie  prohil)ition  to  marry 
should  be  extended  wua  set  forth  by  St.  Jerome.  It  wiw  also  coiilaincd  in 
decretals  i.sHued  by  Innocent  I  and  Leo  I.  Hieronytnus,  Lil)ri  contra  Jovinia- 
num.  Lib.  1,  n.  34.  Pat.  Lt.  23,  2.')7.  LeonLs  Ep.  ad.  RuHticum  107. 
Harduin  1,  1701.     Innocentii  I  Capit,  2,  cap.  '.).     Harduin   1,  10(11 


12 

after  301  by  the  powerful  influence  of  St.  Augustine,  whose 
early  Manichaeism  no  doubt  had  some  effect  in  enlisting  his 
support,  and  the  next  Council  of  Carthage  (401)  did  much  to 
make  effective  its  legislation  concerning  clerical  continence 
by  imposing  a  penalty  for  disobedience.  ^ 

The  Council  of  Toledo  (c.  400)  showed  itself  less  zealous  and 
did  not  seek  to  enforce  in  its  full  severity  the  rule  which  Siricius 
had  enjoined.  It  permitted  deacons  to  enjoy  all  the  privi- 
leges of  marriage,  only  making  them  ineligible  for  promotion 
where  Siricius  had  commanded  deposition;  and  while  evidently 
intending  that  priests  should  practice  continence,  it  only  makes 
ineligible  for  the  office  of  bishop  those  who  become  fathers, 
where  again  Siricius  had  commanded  deposition.  ^  The  bishops 
of  Italy  showed  themselves  equally  unwilling  to  impose  upon 
themselves  and  their  clergy  so  severe  a  rule  as  that  of  the 
Roman  bishop  and  did  no  more  than  deny  promotion  to  offen- 
ders. 3  The  synods  of  Gaul  were  more  compliant  and  attempted 
to  enforce  the  rule  in  its  full  severity,  but  a  canon  of  the  Council 
of  Orange  so  late  as  441  shows  that  it  was  yet  customary  for 
married  deacons  to  continue  conjugal  relations.^ 

Whether  or  not  the  rule  of  continence  was  obeyed  in  the 
early  church  of  Britian  cannot  be  determined  because  of  lack 
of  historical  records.  According  to  Gildas  the  clergy  were 
much  demoralized,  but  he  says  nothing  concerning  their 
marriage.^  In  Ireland  there  was  as  yet  no  attempt  to  intro- 
duce the  new  discipline.^ 
•'"'  The  fifth  century,  therefore,  saw  no  new  restrictions  im- 
posed upon  the  major  orders  in  the  west,  but  some  of  the 
regulations  which  in  the  past  had  been  imposed  upon  the  higher 

'  Con.  Carth.  (401)  c.  3.     Harduin  1,  987. 
»  Con.  Tol.  1  (c.  400),  c.  1.     Harduin  1,  990. 
»  Con.  Taur.  (c.  401),  c.  8.     Harduin  1,  960. 
«Con.  Aurau.s.  (441),  c.  22,  23.     Harduin  1,  1786. 

*  Epistola  Gildffi.     Hist.  Brit.  Saxon.  Anglo-Danicaj  Scriptores.     Ed.  Gale, 
Vol.  2,  23,  38. 

•  Synodus  S.  Patricii  (c.  450),  c.  6.     Harduin  1,  1791. 


13 

orders  alone,  were  now  extended  to  the  minor  clergy.  The 
members  of  the  lower  grades  to  whom  marriage  was  per- 
mitted were  forbidden  to  take  second  wives;  ^  and  a  council 
held  at  Rome  (465)  recommended  that  no  married  men  should 
be  admitted  to  the  lower  orders  except  those  who  had  married 
virgins.-  Leo  the  Great  commanded  expressly,  for  the  first 
time,  that  those  subdeacons  who  had  taken  wives  should  live 
continently  with  them,  and  that  those  who  were  unmarried 
should  remain  so.^  And  although  not  demaned  by  law,  the 
custom  of  ordaining  as  bishops  only  those  who  had  been  celi- 
bates originated  in  this  century.* 

In  the  east,  also,  the  ecclesiastical  laws  concerning  marriage 
were  extended  to  the  lower  orders,  and  through  enactment  by 
the  secular  authority  were  made  more  effective.  In  one 
respect,  indeed,  this  legislation  went  even  further  than  did  that 
of  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  of  the  west.  While  the  Bishop 
of  Rome  forbade  to  the  superior  ranks  of  the  clergy  a  continua- 
tion of  marriage  relations  after  taking  holy  orders,  the  possession 
of  a  wife  and  children  prior  to  that  time  did  not  make  the  candi- 
date ineligiljle  for  them.  But  in  the  code  of  Justinian  it  is  pro- 
hibited absolutely  that  any  one  shall  be  ordained  bishoj)  who  has 
children  or  grandchildren.^  The  reasons  given  for  this  decree 
are  interesting,  since  the  command  is  not  based  upon  the  idea 
that  the  clergy  should  maintain  an  ideal  purity,  but  upon 
grounds  of  worldly  expediency.  Evidently  following  the 
passage  from  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Corintliians  already 
referred  to,^  it  is  argued  that  the  cares  wliich  the  position  of 
husband  and  father  entail,  prevent  the  priest  from  devoting 
his  whole  energy  and  thouglit  to  divine  service  and  ecclesiastical 

»  Con.  Tol.  1  (400),  c.  4.     Harduin  1,  990.     Con.  Tur.  1  (461),  c.  4.Harduiii 
2,  794. 

'  Con.  Rom.  (c.  465),  c.  2.     Hnrdnin  2,  ROO. 

'  I/eonis  Ep.  Anostnaio  Epi.scopo  Thessfilonicensi,  cap.  4.     Manai  !">,  12.S1. 

*  Hin.schiiiH,  Kirchenrecht,  1,  140. 

'  Cod.  1,  3,  L.  42,  §  1.     Corpu-H  Juria  Civilis,  Momin.son  &  Knieger  2,  26. 
Novelhc  6,  cap.  1,  §  3,  4.     lb.  3,  37. 

•  See  p.  2. 


14 

duties  and  that  it  is  unbcconiinjj;  that  the  wealth  given  to 
the  church  for  pious  uses  should  be  employed  by  the  bishop  to 
enrich  his  posterity.^ 

The  ecclesiastical  decree  that  the  higher  clergy  should  not 
marry  after  ordination  was  renewed  by  Justinian  in  the  Code, 
and,  as  a  penalty  for  disobedience,  he  pronounced  illegitimate 
the  children  of  such  marriages,  and  with  their  mothers,  in- 
capable of  inheritance.  2  The  decree  is  repeated  in  the  Novellce 
and  extended  to  subdeacons,  offenders  to  be  degraded  to  the 
status  of  laymen.  3  Lectors  were  forbidden  to  marry  a  second 
time.  ^  But  nowhere  in  the  Code  or  Novellce  is  to  be  found  a 
law  similar  to  the  decretal  of  Siricius  which  ordained  that  con- 
jugal relations  should  cease  after  ordination.  The  Council  of 
Constantinople  (692),  nevertheless,  repeated  the  ecclesiastical 
decree  that  those  who  become  bishops  should  cease  conjugal 
relations  after  ordination.^  This  Assembly  however  made  no 
innovations  in  the  rules  of  the  eastern  church  concerning 
ecclesiastical  marriage,  simply  renewing  the  former  canons  and 
secular  laws.  These  forbade  all  in  holy  orders,  subdeacons, 
deacons,  priests  and  bishops,  to  contract  marriage  after  or- 
dination;*^ allowed  marriage  in  the  lowest  grades  and  per- 
mitted all  thus  married  to  retain  their  wives  after  admission 
to  the  higher  orders.^  As  the  canons  required  that  bishops  be 
celibates,  it  became  customary  to  raise  to  the  episcopate  only 
monks.  The  enactments  of  this  council  are  at  present  the  law 
of  the  Greek  church. 

In  the  west  disobedience  of  the  rule  requiring  continence 

•  Cod.  1.  3,  L.  41  §  2,  3,  4.     lb.  2,  26. 

'  Cod.  1,  3,  L.  44.     Mommsen  &  Krueger  2,  30. 

'  Novellae  6,  cap.  5.     lb.  3,  43. 

Mb. 

'  Con.  Quin.  c.  12.     Harduin  3,  1663-1666. 

•  .  .  .  et  nos  hoc  .servantes  decemimus,  ut  deinceps  nulli  penitus  hypo- 
diacono,  vel  diacono,  vel  presbytero  post  sui  ordinationem  contrahere  liceat. 
Si  autem  fuerit  hoc  aasus  facere,  deponatur.     Con.  Quin.  c.  6.     lb.  1662. 

'  Quainobrem,  si  qui.s  dignus  inventus  fuerit,  qui  hypodiaconus,  vel  diaconus, 
vel  presbyter  ordinetur,  i.s  ad  talem  gradum  a.ssumi  nequaquaquani  prohibea- 
tur,  si  cum  legitima  uxorc  cohabitet.     Con.  Quin.  c.  13.     lb.  1GG6. 


15 

seems  to  have  been  general  during  the  fifth,  sixth  and  seventh 
centuries.  There  were  two  potent  causes  calculated  to  pro- 
duce such  a  condition.  After  the  invasions  of  the  northern 
tribes  and  the  establishment  of  the  Teutonic  states  upon 
Roman  soil,  ecclesiastical  patronage  was  often  in  the  hands  of 
chieftains  who  naturally  bestowed  favors  upon  those  of  their 
followers  who  most  deserved  reward,  and  these  being,  for  the 
most  part,  mere  warriors,  were  unfit  for  positions  in  the  church. 
Their  motives  for  entering  it  were  ambition  or  avarice,  and 
their  fierce  natures  unfitted  them  for  the  self-restraint  then 
demanded  of  ecclesiastics.  Over  against  this  tendency  toward 
lawlessness  was  the  attempt  to  enforce  the  rule  of  absolute 
continence.  Even  in  much  more  favorable  conditions  than 
those  of  the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries  it  was  unlikely  that  such 
an  attempt  could  be  made  without  frequent  disobedience  or 
without  producing  new  forms  of  licentiousness  in  many  cases: 
but  in  a  society  which  seems  to  have  been  so  turbulent  and 
lacking  in  moral  restraint  as  was  the  society  of  that  day,  ^  it 
was  inevitable  that  the  unnatural  self-restraint  demanded  by 
the  church  should  lead  to  widespread  evasions  of  the  com- 
mand. The  acts  of  the  councils  of  these  centuries  indicate  that 
such  was  the  case,  and  so  numerous  are  their  enactments 
against  the  continuation  of  marital  relations  and  more  serious 
offences  that  a  citation  of  a  few  of  those  best  illustrative  of  the 
conditions  must  suffice. 

The  Council  of  Tours  (567)  stated  that  tin-  people  suspected 
that  many  of  the  clergy  continued  forbidden  relations  with 
their  wives.  T<»  prevent  such  uncanonical  acts  in  the  futuri- 
the  council  decreed  that,  whenever  a  priest  entered  his  house, 
he  should  be  accomj)anied  by  at  least  one  of  his  clerical  sul)ord- 
inates.  This  monitor  was  to  remain  with  him  continually, 
even  to  sk-e-p  in  the  room  with  hitii.  Ilu'  punishment  to  be 
inflicted  on  those  found  alone  with  iheir  wives  was  excom- 
munication for  a  year  and  irrevocable  depositi(»ii  lumi  olfice.^ 

'  SalviaiiiiH,  Do  (lul>ernatione  I>oi,  Lil>er  G,  cap.  11.     I'at.  Lt.  .W,  IJO. 
'  Con.  Tur.  2  (567),  c.  19.     Hardiiin.  3,  361;  alao  c.  20,  lb.  302. 


16 

The  Council  of  Macon  (581)  decreed  that  no  woman  should  be 
permitted  to  enter  the  bedchamber  of  a  bishop  unless  two 
priests  or  deacons  were  present.  ^  That  it  was  found  necessary 
to  introduce  such  a  humiliating  espionage,  and  to  impose  such 
severe  penalties  for  infractions  of  the  rule,  establishes  the  fact 
that  disobedience  must  have  been  frequent  and  difficult  to 
overcome. 

In  Spain  the  harshness  of  the  punishments  to  be  inflicted  on 
offenders  indicates  that  the  church  authorities  there  had  a 
similarly  stubborn  disobedience  to  combat.  The  guilty  clerks 
were  to  be  deprived  of  office  and  their  consorts  condemned  to 
monastic  life.^  The  secular  laws  show  that  the  clergy  of  all 
ranks  were  living  with  their  wives  almost  without  concealment, 
and  commands  that  such  unions  shall  at  once  be  severed  by  the 
bishop  or  judge  and  a  penalty  of  one  hundred  lashes  be  in- 
flicted on  the  wife.^  The  ninth  Council  of  Toledo  (655), 
finding  these  severities  in  vain,  condemned  the  children  of 
married  ecclesiastics  to  slavery.^  This  enactment  appears 
somewhat  strange  when  viewed  in  connection  with  the  fact 
that  as  late  as  the  middle  of  the  seventh  century  the  sons  of 
ecclesiastics  were  raised  to  the  papal  chair.  ^ 

So  common  was  clerical  marriage  in  Spain,  even  among 
bishops,  that  the  secular  power  found  it  necessary  to  interfere 
for  the  preservation  of  ecclesiastical  property.  By  royal  law 
every  bishop,  upon  his  accession  to  office,  was  compelled  to 
make  an  inventory  of  the  episcopal  possessions;  his  successor 
was  to  make  a  similar  inventory,  compare  it  with  the  preceding, 
and  demand  from  the  heirs  whatever  was  lacking.^  Pelagius  I 
introduced  a  similar  custom  in  Sicily. '^ 

>  Ck)n.  Matis.  1  (581),  c.  3.     lb.  451-2. 

'  Con.  Tol.  8  (6.53),  c.  4.  5.     Harduin,  3,  962. 

'  Fuero  Juzgo,  Liber  3,  Tit.  4,  L.  18. 

*  Con.  Tol.  9  (65.5),  c.  10.     Harduin,  3,  975. 

*  Theodorus  (642-649)  nations  Grecus,  ex  patre  Theodoro  episcopo  .  .  . 
Liber  Pontificali.s,  ed.  Duchesne  1,  331.  For  similar  instances  dating  from 
the  fourth  century,  lb.  227,  252,  287,  290,  319. 

*  Fuero  Juzgo,  Liber  5,  Tit.  1,  L.  2. 

'  Pelagius  I.     Ep.  Cethego  patricio.     Pat.  Lt.  69,  414. 


17 

The  energetic  and  relentless  spirit  with  which  Gregorj'^  the 
Great  began  his  task  of  improving  ecclesiastical  morality 
makes  manifest  his  opinion  that  only  the  utmost  severity 
would  avail  to  correct  the  existing  evils.  He  declared  that  if 
once  a  clerk  lapsed  from  virtue  he  was  to  be  irrevocably  de- 
graded to  the  status  of  a  layman.  ^  Gregory  also  included  sub- 
deacons  in  the  law  of  absolute  continence;^  but  he  expressly 
permitted  the  married  clergy  of  all  ranks  to  dwell  in  the  same 
houses  with  their  wives. ^ 

Aside  from  the  contumacy  of  the  clergy  in  continuing  marital 
relations,  contemporaneous  writings  make  it  evident  that 
many  of  the  clergy  were  morally  degraded.  Salvianus,  a 
priest  of  Marseilles,  living  in  the  fifth  centurj',  includes  the 
clergy  in  his  fierce  strictures  upon  the  wickedness  which  sur- 
rounded him.*  Pclagius  II  permitted  the  ordination  of  a 
deacon  who  acknowledged  that  he  had  had  children  by  a  con- 
cubine after  his  wife's  death;  and  although  this  fact  itself  is  no 
unimportant  index  of  clerical  ideals,  the  excuse  which  Pelagius 
offers  for  his  act  is  perhaps  the  worst  indictment  of  the  period 
and  the  church  which  he  could  have  uttered.^  As  the  councils 
of  other  countries  found  necessary  a  constant  repetition  of 
canons  directed  against  all  forms  of  disobedience  in  the  matter 
of  marriage,  from  a  continuance  of  Tiiarital  relations  to  resi- 
dence of  strange  women,  it  is  evident  tliat  somewhat  siinilar 
conditions   prevailed   generally. 

'  (JrcKorii  Fp.  Lil.er  ."5,  Kp.  3,  Pat.  Lt.  77,  724.     Liber  H,  Kp.  2  t,  II).  027. 
'  Gregorii  Ep.  Liljcr  1,  Ei).,  41.     lb.  505-5UG. 

•  .  .  .  hoc  tantumodo  adiecto,  ut  hi,  sicut  canonica  decrevit  auctoritaa, 
uxores  quas  caste  debent  regere,  non  relinquant.  Gregorii  Ep.  Liber  9,  Ep. 
60.     lb.  997. 

•  Salvianus,  De  Gubematione  Dei,  Liber  6,  cap.  12.     Pat.  Lt.  63,  122. 

•  Et  quarnvis  niulta  sint  qusc  in  hujasmodi  cawibus  obscrvari  jubeat  8ul)tili- 
tati.s  auct<^iritjus,  tarnen  cjuia  dffuctiiH  tcinponini  no.stroruin,  quibiiH  ikhi  Hobitii 
merita,  sed  corpora  ipsa  hoiiiinutn  dcfeccrunt,  di.strictioni.s  illiu.-j  non  patitur  in 
omnibus  manorc  cen.surain,  ct  ir-tas  i.stiu8  de  quo  agitur,  futura;  incontinentiie 
suspicionem  auffere  dignoscitur,  ut  diaconatus  po8.sit  ordinem  provehi,  tempo- 
rum  conde.scendentes,  ut  dictum  est,  defectui,  concesaisse  nos  novoriH.  Pcla- 
gius II,  Ep.  14. Pat.  Lt.  72,  747-748. 


18 

The  clergy  of  England  was  partly  a  celibate  clergy  owing  to 
the  custom  of  choosing  some  of  its  members  from  the  Monastic 
Orders,  but  among  those  not  so  chosen  marriage  must  have 
prevailed  to  some  extent,  for  it  receives  notice  in  the  peniten- 
tials  of  Theodore,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  (668-690)  and 
Egbert,  Archbishop  of  York  (735-766). ^  Their  statements 
do  not  warrant  any  conclusions  concerning  the  extent  to  which 
it  was  practiced,  however. 

The  condition  of  the  Prankish  clergy  in  the  first  half  of  the 
eighth  century,  as  described  by  St.  Boniface,  was  similar  to 
that  in  Spain.  Boniface  was  unsparing  in  his  denunciations 
of  their  depravity,  ^  and  found  association  with  them  so  abhor- 
rent that  he  wrote  to  Gregory  II,  asking  if  he  should  continue 
to  eat  with  them,  or  even  to  speak  with  them.'*  In  a  letter 
to  Egbert,  Archbishop  of  York,  he  declared  that  he  was  com- 
pelled to  restore  adulterous  priests  to  their  positions,  because 
if  all  the  guilty  ones  were  punished  as  the  canons  demanded, 
there  would  be  no  one  to  administer  baptism  and  perform  the 
other  rites  of  the  church.*  In  Austrasia,  Karlmann  directed 
a  severe  blow  at  the  licentious  priests.  He  issued  an  edict  to 
the  effect  that  priests,  monks  and  nuns  guilty  of  adultery  were 
to  be  flogged,  and  imprisoned  for  two  years  on  bread  and  water, 
the  punishment  to  be  increased  at  the  discretion  of  the  bishop. 

1  Poenitentiale  Theodori,  Lib.  1,  cap.  9,  §  4.  Poenitentiale  Egberti,  cap. 
4,  §  7.     Haddan  &  Stubbs  3,  185,  420. 

'  Si  invenero  inter  illos,  diaconos  quos  nominant,  qui,  a  pueritia  sua  semper 
in  stupris,  semper  in  adulteriis  et  in  omnibus  semper  spurcitiis  vitam  ducentes, 
sub  tali  testimonio  venerunt  ad  diaconatum  et  modo  in  diaconatu,  concubinas 
quattuor  vel  quinque  vel  plures  noctu  in  lecto  habentes,  evangelium  tamen 
legere  et  diaconos  se  nominare  nee  erubescunt  nee  metuunt  et  sic,  in  talibus 
incestis  ad  ordinem  presbiteratus  venientes,  in  hisdem  peccatis  perdurantes  et 
peccata  peccatis  adiicientes,  presibteratus  officio  fungentes,  dicunt,  se  pro 
populo  posse  intercedere,  et  sacras  oblationes  offere,  novissime,  quo  peius  est, 
sub  talibus  testimoniis,  per  gradus  singulos  ascendentes,  ordinantur  et  nomi- 
nantur  episcopi.  Bonifacii  Ep.  Ep.  50.  Epistolaj  Merowingici  et  Karolini 
Aevi  (M.  G.  H.),  1,  300. 

•  Bonifacii  Ep.  Ep.  26.     lb.  277. 

•  Bonifacii  Ep.  Ep.  91.     lb.  377. 


19 

In  his  efforts  to  suppress  clerical  marriage  he  showed  far  less 
vigor  and  confined  himself  to  the  prohibition,  without  penalties, 
that  priests  should  not  dwell  with  women.  Wives  are  not 
specified,  but  seem  to  be  included  in  the  prohibition.  ^  Nor 
was  the  capitulary  of  Pippin  for  the  discipline  of  the  Neustrian 
clergy  severe.  He  simply  decreed,  without  penalty  for  dis- 
obedience, that  no  priest  should  dwell  with  a  woman  unless 
it  be  his  mother,  sister,  or  niece.  ^  IMam?^  of  the  clergy  resisted 
these  measures,  and  seeing  in  Boniface  the  in.stigator  of  the 
hated  legislation,  attempted  to  drive  him  from  Austrasia  by 
persecution,  and  resisted  with  violence  the  execution  of  the 
law.^  A  capitulary  of  Louis  the  Pious  fixing  the  punishment 
of  priests  guilty  of  rape  and  the  enactment  b}'^  several  councils 
of  canons  forbidding  the  clergy  to  dwell  with  their  mothers  or 
sisters  shows  of  what  crimes  they  were  sus])cctcd.^ 

The  tenth  centurj^  saw  no  change  in  the  matter  of  clerical 

'  Karlmanni  Principis  Capit.  (742),  c.  6.  Capitula  Regum  Francorum  (M. 
G.  H.),  1,  25-26. 

'  Pippini  Capit.  Sue.ss.  (744),  c.  8.     lb.  30. 

•  S.  Bonifatii  Ep.  80.  Epistola)  Merowingici  et  Carolini  Aevi  (.M.  (J.  11.),  1. 
358.     Ep.  59,  317. 

*  Ludov.  Pii  Capit.  Eccles.  (818,  819).  Capit.  Regum  Franc.  (M.  G.  H.), 
1,  278. 

At  first  glance  it  might  seem  that  provisions  Hkc  tho,sc  just  referred  to  were 
the  result  of  an  overcautious  desire  to  avoid  possihility  of  evil,  l)ut  the  sub- 
joined canons  show  that  they  were  made  necessary  by  existing  rrime. 

.  .  .  tamen,  fpiod  multum  doiciidum  est,  sirpc  aiidivimus,  per  illfini  ronees- 
sionem  (of  residence  with  female  relatives)  plurima  .seelera  e.sse  commissa,  ila 
ut  quidam  sacerdotum  cum  propriis  sororibus  concumbentes,  filios  ex  els  gen- 
erassent.  Et  idcirco  constituit  hire  sancta  synodus,  ut  nulhis  presbyter  tilliim 
femiriam  serum  in  domo  propria  f)ermittal.  i|U;i(enus  oecasio  iiuil.e  .suspicionis 
vel  facti  ini(iui  penitus  aiif<T.iliir.  Con.  Mo^.  (SSS).  c.  10.  llarduiii,  H,  I't.  1. 
406. 

Prohil)endum,  et  modis  omnii)Us  interminandum  est,  ut  nullus  .sarcrdos  e.is 
persona.s  fcminarum,  sieut  et  in  eanonc-  insert iim  eontinetur,  de  rpiibus  suspirio 
cs.se  potest,  in  domo  sua  lia!)eat.  Sed  neipie  illjis  <|U!is  canones  eoncedunt; 
(quia,  instigante  diabolo,  ctiam  in  illis  .seelus  frequenter  pcriK-tratinn  reperi- 
tur,  aut  ctiam  in  pedi.s.sequis  illarum:)  .seilicet  matrem,  amitam,  8oror«m. 
.   .   .  Con.  Nam.  (895),  c.  3.     lb.,  457-458. 


20 

marriage.  The  members  of  the  clergy  openly  maintamed 
wives,  and  public  opinion  does  not  seem  to  have  condemned 
them.  Although  such  indifference  to  discipline  was  prevalent, 
there  were  some  earnest  churchmen  who  remembered  the 
canons  and  sought  to  enforce  them.^  But  the  habits  of  the 
great  body  of  the  clergy  could  not  be  altered  by  fitfid  and  un- 
systematic opposition,  and  marriage  was  practiced  by  them 
in  manj^  parts  of  western  Europe.  ^ 

That  result  of  ecclesiastical  marriage  which  the  church  had 
anticipated  with  dread,  the  heredity  of  church  property  in  the 
families  of  priests,  made  itself  felt  in  this  century.  The  accu- 
mulations of  property  which  the  church  had  made  during  eight 
centuries  were  looked  upon  as  a  storehouse  from  which  the 
poor  and  pleasure-loving  clergy  might  obtain  the  means  to 
satisfy  their  desires  and  enrich  their  families. ^     No  doubt  the 

1  Richeri  Historia,  Liber  2,  cap.  81.     Scriptores  (M.  G.  H.)  3,  606. 

Synod.  August.  (952),  c.  4.     Harduin,  6,  Pt.  1,  617. 

Con.  Ansan.  (990),  c.  5.     Mansi,  19,  101. 

Con.  Pict.  (1000),  c.  3.     Harduin,  6,  Pt.  1,  764. 

'  Dehinc  intulit  lamentabile  et  nimis  lugendum,  ut  Domini  sacerdotes  publice 
ducant  uxores,  et  si  filii  eorum  valeant  promoveri?  Leo  VII,  Ep.  15.  Pat.  Lt. 
132,  1086-87. 

Si  multinubos  a  clericatu  repellerem,  quern  nisi  puerulos  in  Ecclesia  relinqu- 
erem?  Ratherius,  Bishop  of  Verona,  Itinerarium,  cap.  5.  Pat.  Lt.  136,  586. 
See  also  Constitutiones  Ottonis,  Const,  et  Acta  Pub.  Imperatorum  et  Regum 
(M.  G.  H.),  1,  30. 

Praeterea  quod  dicere  nudet,  tacere  autem  periculum,  quidain  in  tantum 
libidini  mancipantur,  ut  obscenas  meretriculas  sua  simul  in  domo  secum 
hal)itare,  una  cibum  sumere  ac  publice  degere  permittant.  Attonis  Vercellensis 
Episc.  Ep.  9.     Pat.  Lt.  134,  116. 

Hunt,  The  English  Church  from  Its  Foundation  to  the  Norman  Con- 
quest, 269,  270. 

*  .  .  .  ut  habeant  quoque  unde  filiis  uxores,  filiabus  acquirant  maritos, 
vineas  et  campos,  postremo  unde  mammonsc  iniquitatis  valeant  deservire. 
Ratherius,  De  Contemptu  Canonum,  Pt.  1,  c.  4.     Pat.  Lt.  136,  491. 

Quarum  illocebris  illecti,  suse  domui,  cuncta^que  familise  ac  supellectili  eas 
pra».s.se  dijudicant,  suumque  post  obitum  scortum  hajredem  constituunt,  et 
quidquid  de  facultatibus  ecclesia;,  vel  eleemosynis,  seu  undecunque  acquirere 
possunt,  hujusmodi  manibus  distrahendum  relinqunt.  .  .  .  vSunt  etiam  qui 
nudi  ad  Ecclesiam  veniunt,  sed  de  ejus  beneficiis  accrescunt.      Hi  primum 


\ 


21 


title  to  landed  propertj^  usually  remained  in  the  monastery, 
parish  church,  or  chapter  to  which  it  had  been  given;  but  where 
the  incumbent  clergy  were  married,  its  income  would  naturally 
be  directed  to  the  maintenance  of  their  families,  instead  of  being 
applied  to  charitable  uses,  or  employed  in  improving  and 
extending  ecclesiastical  property.  If  two  or  three  generations 
of  clergj'  brought  up  their  sons  for  the  priesthood,  the  church 
would  be  deprived  of  the  usufruct  of  the  property  involved  for 
nearly  a  century- ,  which  of  course,  would  be  tantamount  to  its 
loss  for  that  length  of  time. 

The  history  of  the  first  half  of  the  eleventh  century  is  a 
continuation  of  the  history  of  the  tenth  century,  with  perhaps 
more  determined  effort  by  those  in  authority  to  enforce  the 
canons.  The  Synod  of  Pavia  (1018)  held  by  Benedict  VIII 
for  the  single  purpose  of  restraining  clerical  incontinence, 
reduced  to  slavery  the  children  of  ecclesiastics  and  declared 
anathema  any  judge  who  might  free  them.^ 

If  the  testimony  of  contemjjoraries  is  reliable,  the  execution 
of  such  decrees  would  have  meant  the  suspension  of  all  eccles- 
iastical functions  in  the  west.  Priests  and  deacons  iii;iiiic(l 
after  the  custom  ")"  laymen,  begot  children  and  iiiadt'  lhi-ni 
their  heirs;  and  even  the  bishops  dwelt  openly  with  their  wives.  - 
According  to  the  monkish  biograi)her  of  Peter  Damiani,  the 
two  heresies  of  simony  and  ecclesiastical  marriage  were  prac- 
ticed with  imiiiniity  in  the  whole  church.^    One  (lerman  l)ish«ip, 

inopiiP  causa  contincriti.'Uii  fiiiKHiif.  ct  postiiiodiim  dilati.  mcrclrice.'J  usciHcuiit. 
Attn,  Bishop  of  VfTcclli,  lOp.  !).     Pat.  I-I.  l.'M,  1  I<)   117. 

Sc«!  also,  Synofl  of  Tours  (irir,).     Harduiu,  (1,  I't.   1.  .SOt. 

'  Con.  Tic.  (1018),  c.  1,  1.  Ilanluin.  C.  IM.  1,.S|:?,,SII.  'II  i.- canons  of  t  ho 
Council  of  Hourfif'H  (lO.'JI)  were  less  .stncrc  than  usual,  only  (IcuradinK  to  the 
position  of  lector  or  chanter  tho.sc  who  had  wives.     Con.  Bit .  c.  f).     II..  SJ<». 

'  Itaque  cum  v\ilt,'us  clericoniin  per  viam  offrenatai  licentiie  neinine  proliih- 
ente,  Rradcrctur,  c(rperunt  ipsi  presbytcri  ac  diacones  (rpii  tradit.a  sihi  sacra- 
monta  Dominica  mundo  eorde  ca.st<)«|Ue  corpore  tractare  del>cl)ant)  hiicoruni 
more  uxorcs  ducere,  suHCcpto.sfjuc  filios  hiiredes  testamento  rehnquiTe;  iionulh 
etiam  episcoponim  verecundia  omni  contcmpta.  cnin  uxorih\i»  domo  simiil  m 
una  hahitare.     Victoris  III,  DialoRi,  Lil.cr  3.     Pat.  Lt.  ]W,  lOOJ   um. 

'Joannes  Monachus,  Vit;i   P.  I  );inii;irii,  rap.  16.     Pat.  ]A.  14  I,  I'-i-i. 


22 

while  urginfi;  his  priests  to  shun  the  pestifenms  society  of 
women,  gives  them  by  imphcation  permission  to  marry  by  the 
injunction  that  if  they  could  not  attain  perfection,  they  should 
at  least  guard  with  care  the  bonds  of  marriage.  ^  In  England, 
it  was  customarj'^  for  the  members  of  the  clergy  to  marry  and  in 
some  cases  polygam}'^  was  practiced.  ^ 

Such  lenience  on  the  part  of  those  in  authority,  however, 
was  soon  superseded  by  harsh  severity.  The  year  1049  saw 
the  beginning  of  a  crusade  against  the  married  clergy  which 
was  to  end  in  their  subjugation.  Its  principal  instigator  was 
the  hermit,  Peter  Damiani.  His  desire  for  ecclesiastical  purity 
amounted  to  a  fanaticism  which  stopped  at  no  sacrifice  of  self, 
or  punishment  for  the  guilty.  During  the  short  pontificates 
of  Clement  II  and  Damasus  II  little  had  been  done  to  force  the 
clergv'  to  respect  the  canonical  obligations  concerning  marriage. 
But  with  the  elevation  of  Leo  IX  to  the  Papacy,  and  the  ex- 
hortations and  revelations  of  Damiani,  supported  perhaps  by 
the  influence  of  Hildebrand,  there  began  a  vigorous  struggle 
for  reformation.  The  Sjmod  of  Mainz  (1049)  held  by  Leo  IX, 
in  cooperation  with  Henr}?^  Ill,  forbade  marriage  and  imposed 
severe  penalties  for  disobedience.  ^  A  council  at  Rome  decreed 
that  the  wives  of  the  clergy'  should  be  attached  as  slaves  to  the 
Lateran  Palace,  and  all  the  bishops  of  the  church  were  urged 
to  inflict  the  same  pimishment  upon  the  wives  of  priests.  "* 
Stephen  IX  held  several  councils  for  the  express  purpose  of 
eradicating  the  evil  of  clerical  marriage.^ 

Nicholas  II  realized  that  it  was  not  a  repetition  of  prohibi- 
tions which  was  needed,  but  new  measures  of  coercion.  The 
customary  penalties  of  degradation  from  office  and  expulsion 
from  the  ranks  of  the  clergy    having   failed   of    success,   the 

'  Adam  Bremen-sis  Gesta  Pontificum  Hammaburgensis  Ecclesiae,  Liber  3, 
cap.  29.     Pat    Lt.  146,  580. 
'  Harduin  VI,  Pt.  1,  771  sqq. 
'  Adam.  Brem.  Tjesta  Pont.  Hamm.  Liber  3,  cap.  29.     Pat.  Lt.  146,  580. 

*  Peter  Damiani,  Di.ssert.  2,  Opusc.  18,  cap.  7.     Pat.  Lt.  145,  411. 

*  Chronicon  Monast.  Casin.  Liber  2,  cap.  97.     Script.  Rer.  Ital,  Muratori  4, 
409. 


23 

Council  of  Rome  {1059),  stimulated  bj'  the  reforming  spirit' 
of  the  eleventh  centurj^  decreed  that  no  one  should  attend 
mass  when  said  b}'  a  married  priest.  ^  Tliis  canon  possesses  an 
unusual  importance  and  interest,  for  it  seemed  to  question  the 
doctrine  that  the  sacraments  were  efficacious  in  polluted  hands, 
and  contravened  the  long-established  custom  of  excluding 
the  laity  from  participation  in  clerical  discipline.-  Its  wide 
departure  from  the  doctrines  and  tradition  of  the  church  prove 
the  determination  of  the  Papacy  to  earn*'  its  point  and  the  stub- 
bornness with  which  the  clergj'  resisted.  All  these  efforts 
were  evidently  ineffective,  for  Nicholas  II  found  it  necessary 
to  repeat  the  decrees,  and  his  words  indicate  that  the  clergy 
had  ignored  them.  ^ 

In  the  struggle  to  retain  their  wives  the  clergy  did  not  offer 
merely  a  passive  resistance,  but  resorted  to  argument  in  sup- 
port of  their  position.*  One  learned  and  clear-sighted  eccles- 
iastic of  unknown  name  wrote  a  vigorous  and  cogent  defense 
of  clerical  marriage,  in  which  he  exposed  the  hyjjocrisy  of  the 
clergj',  and  unhesitatinglj'  i)rescribcd  wedlock  as  the  only 
remedy  for  their  debased  morals.^  The  upper  clerg>',  whom 
he  declares  were  stained  by  the  vilest  crimes,^  were  the  parti- 

'  Ut  millas  MLssam  audiat  presbyteri,  quern  scit  conciihinatn  indubitantcr 
habere,  aut  subintroductam  niulierem.  Con.  Rom.  (lOfjO),  c.  .'i.  Ilanlu'm,  ("», 
Pt.  1,  1062. 

'  See  I.ca,  p.  203,  note  2. 

^  Decretalcs  .Nicolai  Papir,  c.  3,  4.     naluzius  ct  Manai,  2,  118-119. 

♦  Petri  Damiani  Ep.  Liber  5,  Ep.  13.     I'at.  Lt.  141,  303. 

*  Hie  e.st  autem,  ni  diliKontur  iri.spiritiir,  tociiiH  «'nriiin  iiumiimluH  /.iznniir, 
tociu.s  convcntus  inHania-,  ut  diiin  clcrici  iicita  unius  u.xoris  roujugia,  acilirot 
uniu.s  inulieri.s  con.sortia,  pharisaico  devicti,  (juod  absit!  furore  relinquere  cor- 
antur,  forriicatorea  et  adulteri  et  aliaruni  pravitatuni  turpinHiini  niinisfri  rum 
ipsis  effiriantur.     Pw-udo-TTdalrici  Kp,  I,il).  <1<-  I/ite  (M.  d.  H.),  1.  J.S't'JCO. 

•  Quid  vern  pro  hominibu.s  fieri  i)ote.st  .stoiidius,  <iuid  diviuii-  iiialcdirliotii 
obligatitis,  quam  cum  aiiqtii  corum,  vel  epincopi,  videlicet  vel  arrlidiaconi,  ifa 
prrecipite.s  sint  in  iibidinem,  ut  nequc  adulteria  nequr  incentUH  ne<iue  iiuwr\il()- 
rum,  pro  pudor!  f  iirpisHimoM  iitnpIfxUH  Hciant  aliliorr»'re,  quod  rmin  clericoruin 
conjuRia  sibi  dicant  fetcrf  ct  ab  ci.^  non  vera'  jii.stiti.T  comjiaHHione,  Bed  fa.xl.T 
justitire  dedignatione  clericoa  non  ut  conscrvoa  rogcnt  vel  moneant  continere. 
sed  tit  servos  iubeant  ct  cogant  abatincrc.     lb.  2.'i.S-259. 


24 

cular  objects  of  his  doimnciation,  because  in  their  efforts  to 
disciphne  their  subordinates,  they  winked  at  concubinage  and 
hcentiousness  while  stigmatizing  marriage.  "Unreasonable 
men,"  he  exclaims,  "who  ought  rather  to  teach  us  that  we 
should  fear  to  sin  in  the  sight  of  Him  from  whom  nothing  is  hid, 
than  that  we  should  blush  to  live  as  men  in  the  sight  of  our 
fellows."! 

The  words  of  St.  Paul  to  the  Corinthians :  "  Nevertheless  to 
avoid  fornication  let  every  man  have  his  own  wife  and  every 
woman  have  her  own  husband,"  ^  gave  the  married  clergy  a 
Scriptural  warrant  of  great  authority  upon  which  to  base  their 
claims,  and  this  passage  was  often  used  by  them  as  a  defence  of 
marriage.  ^  In  one  of  his  numerous  polemics  upon  the  subject, 
Damiani  maintained  that  this  advice  was  not  meant  for  all 
men,  but  only  for  those  citizens  of  Corinth  who  could  take 
wives  without  disobeying  any  law.^  He  further  argued  that  if 
the  passage  quoted  from  St.  Paul  permitted  priests  to  marry, 
the  same  privilege  was  also  conceded  to  monks  and  abbots; 
and  as  the  two  sexes  were  not  governed  by  different  laws,  the 
permission  would  include  the  sacred  virgins.^  The  clergy 
further  adduced  as  a  reason  for  marriage  the  diflficulty  of  sub- 
sisting upon  their  scanty  stipends  without  the  economical 
management  of  a  wife.  Damiani's  reply  was  that  if  their 
livings  yielded  so  little  they  were  the  less  able  to  support  a  wife 
and  children.^ 

Damiani's  attack  upon  clerical  marriage  was  at  no  time 
promjited  by  considerations  of  worldly  expediency.  It  was  not 
the  danger  to  eclesiastical  property  which  influenced  him,  but 
the  thought  that  the  sacred  ministrations  of  the  church  should 
be  performed  by  men  who  were  bound  by  the  ties  of  a  union 
which,  to  his  devout  asceticism,  seemed  pollution.     It  was  the 

'  lb.  259. 
'  I  C«r.  7,  2. 

'  Petri  Damiani  Ep.  Liber  5,  Ep.  13.     Pat.  Lt.  144,  363. 
•lb. 

» Petri  Damiani,  Opuscula  18,  Diss.  1,  cap.  4.     Pat.  Lt.  145,  392-394. 
lb. 


25 


ideal  purit}^  alone  for  which  he  struggled,  and  he  frankly  admits 
that  the  married  clergj^  in  one  diocese  at  least,  were  men  of 
merit,  and  onlj'  deserved  of   condemnation  because  they  had 


wives.  ^ 


1 


I 


In  Lombardy,  particularly  in  Milan,  the  attempts  of  Damiani 
to  coerce  the  clergj'  into  conformitj"  with  the  canons  were 
accompanied  by  riots  and  insurrection.  The  chief  source  of 
the  violence,  however,  was  not  the  preaching  or  measures  of 
Damiani,  but  the  personal  animosity  of  rival  candidates  for 
the  archbishopric  of  Milan,  one  of  whom  made  celibacy  the 
war-crv'  of  his  party  in  order  to  gain  the  support  of  the  Catharist 
element  of  the  Milanese  population  and  the  aid  of  Rome.  The 
married  clergy-  of  Milan  formed  an  important  part  of  the 
schismatic  party  which  elected  the  anti-pope,  Honorius  II. 
Not  until  clerical  marriage  had  become  secondary  to  other 
questions  involved  in  the  contest  did  the  clergj'  of  Milan  finally 
suljmit  to  the  Pope  and  declare  obedience  to  the  canons  pro- 
hibiting marriage.^ 

The  clergj'  of  the  other  parts  of  Euroj)e  likewise  persisted  in 
their  defence  of  the  right  to  marr3^  and  the  re-enactment  by 
Alexander  II  of  the  canon  of  1059  was  ineffectual. ^  Damiani, 
apparently  convinced  that  exhortations  and  ecclesiastical 
penalties  were  useless,  appealed  to  a  secular  niler  for  aid. 
In  a  letter  to  Adelaide,  Duchess  of  Piedmont  and  Savoy,  he 
requested  that  she  use  the  force  of  temporal  power  to  coerce 
the  clergy  of  her  dominions  into  obedience.'*  Hut  all  seemed 
in  vain;  deposition  from  office,  degradation  to  tlie  status  of 
layman,  dissolution  of  the  ties  between  pastor  and  congrega- 
tion, all  had  failed  for  the  time,  of  accompbshing  their  purpose, 
and  Alexander  II,  though  under  the  spur  of  Damiani,  aban- 
doned the  ideals  of  the  reformers,      lie  did  not   abrogate  the 

'  Ih.  398. 

'A  full  account  of  thc.sp  cvontfl  is  p;ivcn  hy  AniulphuH,  CvMn  Archiep. 
Mcdiolan.     Pnt.  Lt.  147,  300-310.  31fi-319,  ^^21-323. 
'  Con.  Horn.  (1063),  c.  3.     Ilanluin,  0,  Pt.  1,  1139. 
'  Petri  Damiani,  Opusc.  18,  Diss.  3,  cap.  2.     Pat.  hi.  145,  418,  419. 


26 

niles  of  discipline,  but  suspended  and  relaxed  them  in  impor- 
tant particulars,  limiting  the  infliction  of  penalties  to  open  and 
defiant  offenders,  or  commuting  the  more  severe  one  of  de- 
position from  office  into  the  performance  of  the  customary 
canonical  satisfaction.  ^ 

With  the  election  of  Hildebrand  to  the  Papal  chair,  how- 
ever, leniency  was  succeeded  by  harsh  and  vigorous  measures. 
He  had  a  new  motive  of  tremendous  power  driving  him  to 
execute  the  canons  concerning  marriage.     For  a  celibate  clergy 
was  indispensable  to  a  realization  of  his  views  concerning  the 
position  of  the  Pope  in  the  affairs  of  the  world.     His  theories 
are  clearly  set  forth  in  the  Dictatus  Papce.     In  this  enunciation 
of  the    Papal  rights  it    is  asserted    that    no  council    can    be 
regarded  as  general  without  the  Papal  sanction  and  that  the 
Pope    alone   can    depose    and    reinstate    bishops.     This  is,  of 
course,  is    tantamount    to   a    declaration    that  the    Pope  is 
autocrat  of  the  church.     As  to  the  powers  of  the  Pope  in  secular 
affairs,  Gregory  declared  that  he  might  depose  emperors,  that 
he  might  annul  the  decrees  of  all  earthly  authorities,  but  that  no 
one  could  annul  Papal  decrees,  and  that  he  was  to  be  judged 
by  no  one.  ^     The  Dictatus  PapcB  thus  outlines  a  theory  of  the 
world  in  which  all  earthly  rulers  and    powers  are    amenable 
and  subordinate  to  the  Pope.     To  suppose  that  Gregory  in- 
tended that  the  Pope  should  constantly  exercise  supervision 
over  all  the  princes  and  magnates  of  the  earth  is  unreasonable. 
The  supremacy  for  which  he  contended  was  a  conditional,  or 
contingent,  sufjremacj^  which  his  obligations  as  Pope  gave  him 
the  right  to  possess.     If  he  were  responsible  to  God  for  the 
salvation  of  every  soul  in  Christendom,  the  power  to  guide  every 
soul,  to  protect  it  from  whatever  he  thought  might  be  leading 
it  to  destruction,  was  his  indispensable    prerogative.     If  the 
measures  of  emperor,  or  king,  were  inimical  to  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  his  subjects,  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Pope  to  rescue 
them  by  persuading  or  coercing  their  ruler  into  a  change  of 

>  Alexander  II.,  Ep.  125.     Pat.  Lt.  146,  1407.     lb.  Ep.  118.     lb.  1405-1406. 
Ep.  13.3.     lb.  1410. 

'  Jaff6,  Bibliotheca  Rerum  Germanicarum,  2,  174-175. 


27 

policy.  Such  a  supremacy'  in  the  temporal  world  was  a  logical 
deduction  from  the  Papal  supremacy  in  the  spiritual  world. 
Gregory's  purpose  in  seeking  to  realize  this  dream  was  a  noble 
one;  it  was  not  to  satisfy  a  greed  for  power,  but  to  ameliorate 
the  condition  of  mankind  by  the  wise  and  beneficent  rule  of  a 
divinely  appointed  sovereign,  who  feared  no  earthly  magnate, 
who  acted  onty  from  the  purest  motives,  who  would  combat  all 
evils,  and  rectify  all  wrongs  upon  the  widest  principles  of  justice. 

As  spiritual  chief  of  the  world  it  was  necessary  that  the  Pope 
should  have  for  his  agents  a  body  of  men  without  local  attach- 
ments and  without  personal  interests  to  which  they  might 
sacrifice  the  welfare  of  the  church.  It  was  necessarj^  that 
their  powers  should  be  devoted  exclusively  to  the  defence  and 
aggrandizement  of  this  great  ecclesiastical  institution.  To 
create  a  body  of  men  with  such  singleness  of  purpose,  it  was 
also  necessarj^  besides  cutting  off  all  personal  interests,  to 
distinguish  them  sharply  from  the  people  they  were  to  rule. 
The  indelible  spiritual  attributes  conferred  at  ordination  accom- 
plished this  to  some  degree,  but  celibacy  was  a  much  more 
obvious  and  striking  distinction  than  the  invisible  spiritual 
change  which  ordination  was  said  to  effect.  The  enforcement 
of  the  rule  of  continence  would  thus  accomplish  two  imi)()rtant 
purposes:  it  would  deprive  the  clergj^  of  the  cares,  ambitions 
and  interests  which  the  rearing  of  a  family  involve,  and  it 
would  isolate  them  from  their  fellow  men.  (Xbcr  motives 
no  doubt  influenced  Gregory.  Being  a  monk,  he  was  saturated 
with  monastic  ideals,  and  motives  of  pure  asceticism  were 
probably  combined  with  those  of  pajjal  sujjremacy. 

Immediately  after  his  election  Gregory-  began  the  task  in 
which  all  his  predecessors  had  failed.  He  recognized  that  no 
new  canons  were  needed,  but  rather  a  vigorous  ai»i)Hcation  of 
the  si)ur  to  the  lagging  bishops.  Numerous  synods  were  con- 
voked to  act  upon  the  matter  of  c  Uri<  al  marriage  and  care 
was  taken  that  all  ecclesiastics  should  bi-  infomud  of  ilieir 
decrees.'     The  canon  of  ros<)  prohibiting  attendance  at  mass 

'  Lamberti  HerafeldenaLs  Annalea  (ann.  1074),  Script.  (M.  G.  U.),  5,  217-18. 


28 

when  read  by  a  married  priest  was  re-enacted/  the  Council 
of  Poitiers  threatening  the  disobedient  with  excommunica- 
tion. ^  Gregory  appealed  to  temporal  rulers  to  aid  him.  In  a 
letter  directed  to  Rudolph,  Duke  of  Swabia,  and  Bertolph, 
Duke  of  Carinthia,  he  exhorted  and  admonished  them  not  to 
sanction  the  installation  of  any  married  ecclesiastic,  and  urged 
them  to  use  force,  if  necessary,  to  prevent  such  men  from 
officiating.^  Similiar  exhortations  were  addressed  to  other 
princes. 

But  the  measures  to  which  he  next  resorted  to  compel  the 
refractory  clergy  to  obey,  made  those  of  the  past  seem  con- 
servative. In  a  letter  addressed  to  the  clergy  and  laymen  of 
Germanj^  he  stated  that  certain  bishops  and  priests  of  that 
countrj^  had  taken  wives,  and  that  all  inferior  clergy  and  lay- 
men were  released  from  obedience  to  such  spiritual  leaders.^ 
As  clerical  marriage  was  general  throughout  Germany,^  and  as 
I  ecclesiastical  influence  and  the  penalties  of  the  church  were 
then  among  the  most  effective  restraints  upon  disorder,  this 
permission  gave  to  the  lawless  and  turbulent  elements  of  the 
population  a  most  dangerous  license.  It  was  a  destruction  of 
the  most  potent  force  then  on  the  side  of  legal  order,  and  a 
dissolution  of  the  ties  most  venerated  by  the  people  of  that 
age.  It  was  a  violation  of  the  most  ancient  traditions  of  the 
church,  a  lilow  at  religion  itself,  for  there  was  then  no  other 
spiritual  guidance  and  authority  than  that  of  the  clergy  of  the 
Roman  Church.     To  release  the  people  from  obedience  to  the 

'  Con.  Rom.  (1074)  c.  17.     Harduin,  6,  Pt.  1,  1542. 

»  Ck)n.  Pict.  (1078),  c.  9.     lb.  1576. 

»  Gregorii  VII.,  Ep.  Liber  2,  Ep.  45;  JafTe,  2,  158. 

*  JafF6  Bib.  Rer.  Ger.  2,  532.  The  canon  of  the  Council  of  Rome  (1059), 
forbidding  attendance  at  the  masses  of  married  priests  was  essentially  the 
same  as  this,  ijut  as  the  release  from  obedience  was  not  explicit  and  the  canon 
ignored,  its  full  significance  was  not  seen. 

'  Nunc  videndum,  unde  hsec  nefanda  consuetudo  usquequaque  inoleverit, 
quod  quasi  licentes  passim  uxores  duxerint.  De  Offendiculo  Honorii  Augus- 
todunensis  Presbyteri  et  Scholastici,  cap.  27.  Lib.  de  Lite  (M.  G.  H.),  3,  46. 
See  also  lb.  49,  50. 


29 

clerg3'  was  a  daring  measure  and  the  more  daring  because  it 
was  opposed  by  even  Gregory's  supporters.  His  former 
decretals  had  called  forth  an  uproar  of  protestation  and  oppo- 
sition from  all  the  married  clergy  of  western  Europe.  They 
defended  themselves  with  the  assertion  that  the  church  form- 
erly pennitted  the  ordination  of  married  men;^  they  declared 
that  the  man  was  a  heretic  who  forgot  the  words  of  Christ  that 
continence  was  not  for  all,  and  the  counsel  of  the  Apostle,  who 
recommended  that  those  should  marr^'  who  could  not  restrain 
themselves.  They  accused  him  of  violently  compelling  men  to 
live  as  angels,  and,  by  denj'ing  the  demands  of  nature,  of  giving 
rein  to  adultery  and  all  lands  of  uncleanness.  They  declared 
that  they  would  surrender  their  offices  rather  than  their 
wives.  2 

In  the  polemical  literature  which  the  measures  of  Gregory 
called  forth  the  cause  of  the  married  clergy  was  worthily  de- 
fended by  champions  who  possessed  learning  and  acumen  and 
had  the  welfare  of  the  church  at  heart.  The  twofold  basis  of 
their  defence  was  that  celibacy  was  not  prescribed  in  the  Old 
Testament,  the  Gospels,  or  Epistles; ^  on  the  contrary-,  that 
marriage  was  expressly  recommended;  and  that  celibacj'  was 
the  undoubted  cause  of  crime  and  moral  degradation  among 
the  clcrg>'.  As  they  were  accjuaintcd  with  tiic  storj*  of  Pajthnu- 
tius  and  the  efforts  of  the  advocates  of  celibacy  to  have  the 
Council  of  Nica^a  enact  a  canon  prescribing  the  nile  of  contin- 

'  Petri  D.'uniarii  OpiiHciiIa  18,  Diss.  2,  cap.  3.     Pat.  [.t.  lir..  102. 

'  AdvcrHU.s  hoc  dccrctuni  protimm  vcliomciitcr  irifrcimiit  Iota  factio  clori- 
corum;  horninom  plane  hereticum  ct  vesani  (loRmatis  eusc  claniitanf,  qui  olilitns 
sermoiiis  Domini  qno  ait;  "Non  omncs  capiunt  Iioc  vcrhinn;  (pii  potcht  cnpcrc, 
capiat,"  (!t  ApoHtoIu.s;  "Qui  sn  non  oontinct,  nul)at;  niolius  CHt  oniin  nuln're 
quam  uri;"  violcnta  exactionc  lioiniiics  vivcrn  cogcrct  ritii  anKclonini,  vl  cl»nn 
consuetum  cursum  naturae  neKnrct,  fornicationi  et  immiindifiji*  frona  laxarot; 
quod  .si  posfrcrc.t  .sententiam  confirniarr',  nialli-  hc  HarcTdoliuni  quniii  runjuj^iuui 
de-seroro,  ot  tunc  vi.Huruin  •■uin  mi  hnniincs  HordfTcnt.  undc  KulicmandiH  |kt 
ecclcsiam  Dei  plehilm.s  anpclos  cornparaturuH  e.s.set.  Iiainl)crti  HerHfcldonsis 
Annales  (ann.  1074),  Script.  (M.  G.  H.)  6,  218. 

'  Tractatus  pro  cliTiconiin  ronriutiio.  ].\\>.  de  T/it<'  (M.  (i.  11.),  3,  58S. 
Tractatu.i  Eljorac    lb.  GIG,  G17-G1S. 


30 

ence,  its  failure  to  do  so  was  made  the  basis  of  a  claim  that 
clerical  marriage  was  still  canonical.  ^  The  imiumerable  mar- 
riages of  priests  were  cited  as  precedents  in  support  of  this 
contention,  and  the  repeated  promotion  of  the  sons  of  priests 
to  the  episcopal  office  was  adduced,  apparently  to  prove  that 
in  the  past  the  offspring  of  clerical  marriages  had  not  been 
regarded  with  disfavor  by  the  church  authorities. 2 

The  replies  of  the  partisans  of  Gregory  consisted  largely  of 
numerous  citations  from  Augustine,  Jerome,  Gregory  the  Great 
and  others  of  the  church  fathers,  along  with  those  Papal  decretals 
and  canons  in  which  a  continuance  of  marriage  relations  after 
ordination  was  forbidden.  To  the  argument  that  since  mar- 
riage was  permitted  by  the  old  dispensation  to  the  Hebrew 
priests  and  had  not  been  forbidden  by  any  law  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  was  therefore  permissible  for  the  priests  of  the 
church  of  Christ,  they  replied  that  the  Levites  were  allowed 
to  marry  because  only  the  members  of  that  tribe  could  serve 
as  priests,  and  that  its  perpetuation  was  therefore  necessary.  ^ 
They  declared  that  the  advice  of  St.  Paul  'that  each  man  have 
his  own  wife  and  each  woman  her  own  husband,'  was  intended 
only  for  those  who  could  marry  canonically,  not  for  those  who 
had  taken  a  vow  of  chastity.^  The  reason  for  celibacy  which 
was  most  often  presented,  and  which  no  doubt  had  much 
weight  with  a  large  number  of  the  clergy,  was  that  those  who 
officiated  at  the  altar  and  sacrificed  the  body  of  Christ  should 
not  indulge  in  carnal  pleasures.  ^     This  incompatibility  which 

»  Cameracen,  et  Noviomen.  Clericorum  Ep.,  Lib.  de  Lite  (M.  G.  H.)  3,  575- 
'  Possemus  innumerabiles  clericorum  filios  ab  antiquis  patribus  ecclesiasti- 
corum  ordinum  et  honorem  dignitatibus  sublimates  adicere.  Possemus  et 
viventes  adhuc  episcopos  de  clericis,  immo  de  presbyteris,  in  Italia,  in  Gallia, 
in  Normaiiiiia  ab  ipso  papa  intronizari  concessos  aut  et  ordinatos  ostendere 
....  Tract,  pro.  cleric,  connubio.     lb.  595. 

*  Libellus  Honorii  Aug.  lb.  29  sqq. 
Apologeticus  Bemaldi,  lb.  2,  73. 

*  Apologeticus.     lb.  72-73. 

*  Xon  est  enim  congruum  camali  copulae  servire  et  Christi  hostiam  cum  an- 
gelo  immolare.     Lib.  Honorii  Aug.  I^ib.  de  Lit«  (M.  G.  H.),  3,  35. 

Quis  igitur  sanaj  mentis  pra-dictas  apostoli  sententias  de  exercendo  conjugali 


31 

was  asserted  to  exist  between  marital  and  religious  duties 
received  copious  illustration  from  the  events  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. In  the  passage  of  Exodus  (19,  14)  stating  that  "IMoses 
went  down  from  the  mount  unto  the  people  and  sanctified  the 
people,"  the  word  sanctified  was  construed  to  mean  that  the 
men  had  abstained  from  their  wives  for  three  da^'s,  the  warrant 
for  this  interpretation  being  the  statement  that,  on  his  return, 
"Moses  commanded  the  people  that  thej'^  should  be  ready 
against  the  third  day  and  come  not  at  their  wives."  Generaliz- 
ing from  this  instance,  it  was  maintained  that  the  word  sancti- 
fied, wherever  used  in  the  Old  Testament,  signified  abstinence 
from  women.  ^  It  was  argued  that  if  those  who  approached 
the  mountain  in  which  an  angel  appeared  were  thus  sanctified, 
much  the  more  should  he  be  sanctified,  who,  in  the  service  of 
the  altar,  daily  approached  the  Lord  of  angels.  2 

But  in  spite  of  the  resistance  of  the  married  clerg>'  Gregory' 
persisted,  and  as  a  last  means  of  coercion,  annihilated  their 
authority  over  the  people.  The  result  is  described  by  a  con- 
temporary, a  friend  of  Gregory's  reforms.  The  ministrations 
of  married  priests  were  refused  by  the  laity,  with  the  conse- 
quence that  all  offices  of  the  church  were  frc(iucntly  susi)ended. 
Some  of  the  priests  were  driven  from  their  homes  and  died  of 
starvation,  others  suffered  the  most  huniiliatiug  outrages. 
The  destruction  of  the  moral  force  of  the  clergj'  was  followed  in 
many  places  by  crime,  heresy  and  disorder.^ 

opnre  .sacerdotihus  a-scrihiit,  qiioniin  roffidiamiin  o.st,  ofriciuni  lum  modiim 
orarc,  scd  et  <livina  .sacraiiifiita  coiitnictan-,  pra-scrfiin  cum  in  codciii  lt)C(t 
etiam  cuilihet  Chrhstiuno  tempore  orationiH  iniungatiir  coiitinpntiii.  Apolo- 
geticu.s  Bemaldi,  Lib.  de  Lite  (M.  G.  H.),  2,  73. 

'  F.il..  Ilor.orii  Auk.  II>.  3,   KJ. 

'  II..  1.3-U.     For  similar  arKUiTienta  see  ApoIoKcticUHBornaMi.     Il>.2.72«q. 

'  Q(ii.s  eniin  catholicus  in  tanta  niatri.s  crrhvsia-  p«>rturl>a»inin-  iioii  d.ilral? 
Qui.s  chri.stianu.s  in  tam  indiRna  chriHtianifaf i.s  conrnlr.alioni'.  Hi  (|iia  hal)cat, 
vi.sera  mi.serationi.s  noti  fxcrat?  Qii.'i-  autvm  ad  bar  dr-llcnda  [p««rturl>atio  sit, 
nuUus  sexus,  nulla  conditio,  nulla  fortuna,  nulla  pot^-.st  ipnorarc  reiiKio.  (^ui.l 
enim  aliiirl  etiam  muliorrularum  tf  xtrina  ri  (ipifiniin  nfTirinip  jam  ultiquo  jkt- 
sonant,  quam  totiu.s  humaniu  societatia  jura  confusa,  chriHiiana-  Hunclitatin 


^ 


32 

The  untiring  energy  and  indomitable  will  which  could  resort 
to  such  doubtful  measures  left  an  impress  upon  the  public 
mind  of  Europe,  and  although  Gregory'  did  not  fully  accom- 
plish his  purpose,  he  was  recognized  as  the  most  successful 
champion  of  sacerdotal  celibacy  which  the  church  had  yet 

statuta  convulsa,  popularis  status  subitam  immutationem,  ecclesiastic!  decoris 
impiani  delirationem,  novas  in  dominos  perfidias  servorum,  omnimodas  in 
servos  suspiciones  dominoruni,  infidissimas  sodalium  proditiones,  dolosas  in 
ordinatam  a  Deo  potestatem  machinationes,  amicitiam  ledi,  fidem  negligi,  et 
impudentiori  malitia;  licentiaimperia,  et  christians  religioni  contraria  dogmata 
induci,  etquod  misserimum  est,  omnia  htec  portenta  eorum,  qui  christianitatis 
duces  vocantur,  vel  permissione  concedi,  vel  consensu  fulciri,  vel  auctoritate  ro- 
borari.  Plebius  error  quam  semper  qujEsivit,  opportunitate  adepts  usque  ad 
furoris  sui  satietatem  iniuncta  sibi,  ut  ait,  in  clericorum  contumelias  obedientia 
crudeliter  abutitur.  Hi  publici  illusionibus  adducti  quocunque  prodeunt 
clamores  insultantium,  digitos  ostendentium,  colaphos  pulsantium  proferunt. 
Alii,  injustis  proscriptionibus  rebus  sic  ammissis  prsesentiam  eorum,  inter  quos 
modo  honesti  et  clari  erant,  ferre  non  valentes,  egeni  et  pauperes  profugiunt. 
Alii  membris  mutilati  non  satis  discretam  pro  lapsu  suo  sentenitia  ad  evidens 
tam  prudentium  correctorum  testimonium  per  omnium  era  circumferunt. 
Alii  post  longos  cruciatus  superbe  necati  sanguinis  sui  vindictam  de  justi  et 
omnipotentis  defensoris  manu  incessanter  expetunt.  Quidam  ob  infirmatatis 
sua;  consuetudine,  non  pii  s  et  ecclesiasticis  ammonitionibus  devocati,  sed 
tyrannicse  violentise  impetu  non  parumper  absterriti,  duplicato  periculo 
ad  illam  quotidie  redeunt.  Illi  autem,  laicos  dico,  quibus  amministris  tam 
ordinata  agi  placuit  capitula,  sua  auctoritate  defendentes  vesaniam,  nihil 
est  quod  contra  propositum  christianitatis  non  audeant,  ecclesise  mysteria 
contemnere,  parvulos  suos  lavacro  salutari  fraudare,  ipsi  absque  humili 
peccatorum  confessione  etsolemni  ecclesise  viatico  migrare  religiosum  deputant 
sibi  ad  peccatorum  redemptionem  sufficere  arbitrantes,  si  commissum  sibi  in 
pastores  suos  saeviendi  officium  strenue  adimpleant.  Sigberti  Gemblacensis 
Apologia.     Lib.  de  Lite  (M.  G.  H.),  2,  438-39. 

Another  observer  thus  describes  the  effect  of  Gregory's  measures.  Legem 
enim  illam  ad  scandalum  in  a?cclesia  mittendum  tartaro  voemente  prolatam 
neglegentia,  aiunt,  excepit,  stultitia  promulgavit,  amentia  roborare  contendit; 
per  quam  pax  ajcclesiae  convulsa,  tranquillitas  populi  Dei  sublata,  pulcherrima 
fficclesiastici  ordinis  distinctio  confusa,  fides  concussa,  tota  denique  magni 
patrisfamilias  domus  sedibus  disiectis,  tricliniis  tran-smutatis,  vasis  transpo- 
sitis,  omnino  inordinata  et  confusa.  Theodericus  Virdunensis  Episcopus 
Hilthebrando  Papse.     Lib.  de  Lite  1,  288 

For  another  account  of  the  lawlessness  of  the  people  at  this  time,  see  Sig- 
berti Chronicon  (ann.  1074),  Script.  (M.  G.  H.),  6,  363. 


33 

seen.^  The  result  of  his  vigor  and  persistence  was  this:  ceH- 
bacy  was  generally  recognized  by  ecclesiastical  authorities  to  be 
a  canonical  obligation,  and  it  was  more  successfully  enforced 
than  at  anj'  time  hitherto.  The  indifference  of  national  or 
local  synods  was  overcome  and  the  bishops  of  southern  and 
western  Europe,  save  a  small  number  in  Germany  for  the  time 
being,  imposed  the  rule  upon  their  clerg>\  But  those  indivi- 
duals whom  necessity  forced  into  obedience  for  the  time  being 
relapsed  as  soon  as  the  pressure  was  withdravra,  and  the  Papacy 
abated  its   assiduity. 

The  next  thirty-five  years  were  filled  with  efforts  like  those 
of  the  past  to  compel  the  obdurate  clergy  to  obey;  but  until 
1 1 23  no  new  penalties  were  imposed  and  no  new  principles 
introduced  into  the  legislation  upon  the  subject.  The  Lateran 
Council  of  that  year,  however,  declared  dissolved  all  marriages 
contracted  after  ordination. 2  Prior  to  this  time  the  sanctity 
of  marriage  had  been  respected  and  its  vows  considered  super- 
ior to  all  others.  The  canons  had  permitted  the  surrender  of 
either  wife  or  office,  the  choice  being  left  to  the  individual. 
Nevertheless,  if  the  former  alternative  were  chosen,  the  i)ersons 
concerned  were  considered  to  Ije  still  bound  by  the  marriage 
vows,  and  as  has  been  already  observed,  the  wife  was  s(»me- 
times  compelled  to  enter  a  nunnery-  in  order  to  make  their  vioki- 
tion  impossible.  3  But  this  canon  made  the  obHgations  of  holy 
orders  suj)erior  to  all  others.  It  was  a  result  of  the  rapidly 
developing  doctrine  that  the  characteristics  of  the  priest  were 
indelible,  that  the  powers  and  obligations  assumed  at  ordina- 

'  Cuius  prudentia  non  solum  in  Italia,  sed  etium  in  riiout/)nicis  purtibuH  r«- 
frenata  est  sacerdotum  incontinentia;  scilicet  quod  pni'di'cessorcs  ejus  in 
Italia  prohihuerunt,  hoc  ip.se  in  aliis  :iT!(«Hi:i'  rutholicc'  jwrtiLiiH  proliil.cr.i 
studio.sus  att^-niptavit.  Hnrtholdi  AmmleH  (arm.  1073)  Script.  (.M.  (J.  M.),  5, 
270.     Sec  al.so,  OttonLs  Kri.sinKfiiHi.s  Chmnicon  Lihcr  6,  rap.  34.     lb.  20,  246. 

'  Pre-sbyteris,  diaconibus,  subdiaconibus,  et  monarhis,  ronrubinrw  habere, 
eeu  matrimonia  rontriihcre,  peiiitns  iiiterdirimtiH;  rontrarta  cUKupir  matri- 
monia  ab  hujuHmodi  persdiiiH  diHJiinKi,  et  jxTsoiifu^  ad  p<inil«-ntiam  di-bcro 
redlKi,  jiixta  sacronim  canonum  diflinitioncs,  judicamus.  (Jon.  Lat.  (1123),  c. 
21,  II).   1114. 

»  See  p.   15. 


34 

tion  could  never  be  lost  and  the  priest  was  absolved  from  all 
duties  which  conflicted  with  the  ones  then  imposed.^  The 
Sjaiod  of  Pisa  (1134)  gave  clear  and  definite  expression  to  the 
princiiile,2  and  the  Lateran  Council,  convoked  by  Inno- 
cent II,  erected  it  into  a  doctrine  by  the  declaration  that  a 
marriage  contracted  in  violation  of  the  law  of  celibacy  was  not 
a  marriage.^  This  attempt  of  the  Popes  to  establish  the 
principle  that  a  vow  of  virginity  destroyed  the  binding  force 
and  sanctity  of  the  marriage  ties  was  not  supported  by  all 
ecclesiastics.  Their  doubts  of  the  correctness  of  the  principle 
found  expression  in  the  canon  law,  where  Gratian  asserted  that, 
although  a  vow  of  chastity  is  offered  at  ordination,  nevertheless 
the  strength  of  the  ties  of  matrimony  is  so  great  that  they 
cannot  be  dissolved  by  it.^ 

Alexander  III,  acting  in  harmony  with  the  Lateran  Synod 
of  1 123,  decreed  that  those  who  had  only  assumed  the  religious 
habit,  persons  in  minor  orders,  were  not  thereby  incapacitated 
from  contracting  the  obligations  of  matrimony;  the  implication 
being  that  those  who  had  made  a  formal  vow,  or  had  been 
ordained,  could  not  contract  a  valid  marriage.  ^     The  privilege 

*  Bocquet  believes  that  this  canon  aimed  only  to  secure  the  actual  separation 
of  wife  from  husband  and  was  not  a  declaration  of  the  nullity  of  marriage. 
Le  C61ibat  Eccl^siastique,  L.  Bocquet,  p.  189. 

On  the  other  hand,  Hefele  believes  that  sacerdotal  marriage  was  made  in- 
valid by  the  Council  of  Melfi  (1089),  because  the  wives  of  the  clergy  were  there 
condemned  to  servitude.  Hefele,  Beitrage  zur  Kirchengeschichte,  1,  133. 
Hinchius,  by  the  Synod  of  Rheims  (1119).     Kirchenrecht,  1,  155. 

'  Con.  Pi.s.  (1134),  c.  1.     Mansi,  21,  489. 

■  Ut  autem  lex  continentiae,  et  Deo  placens  munditia  in  ecclesiasticis  per- 
sonis  et  sacris  ordinibus  dilate tur:  statuimus  quatenus  episcopi,  presbyteri 
.  .  .  qui  sanctum  transgredientes  propositum  uxores  silji  copulare  prssum- 
pserint,  separentur.  Hujusmodi  namque  copulationem,  quam  contra  eccles- 
iasticam  regulam  constat  esse  contractam,  matrimonium  non  esse  censemus. 
Qui  etiam  ab  invicem  separati  pro  tantis  excessibus  condignam  pocnitentiam 
agant.     Con.  Lat.  2  (1139),  c.  7.     Harduin,  6,  Pt.  2.  1209. 

*  Corpus  Juris  Canonici,  Comment,  in  c.  1,  Dist   27. 

'  Quod  qui  habitum  religionis  suscepit,  si  professionem  non  fecit,  et  aliquam 
eibi  pKJStea  matrimonio  copulaverit,  non  est  cogendus  ab  ea  recedere,  et  ad 
ecclesiam  redire.     Index  in  Lat.  Synod.     Pt.  6,  c.  9.     Harduin,  6,  Pt.  2,  1697. 


35 

of  marrying  thus  depended  upon  the  nature  of  the  vow  taken 
by  the  ecclesiastic.  If  the  vow  were  simple,  it  was  not  con- 
sidered a  preventive  of  marriage,  but  if  solemn  it  was  so 
considered;  the  distinction  between  a  simple  and  a  solenui  vow 
being  that  the  former  was  taken  privately;  the  latter  publicly, 
with  the  official  recognition  of  the  church.  ^  Ordination  being 
a  ceremony  performed  in  conspectu  Ecclesia;  a  vow  of  chastity 
then  taken  was  of  course  a  solemn  vow  and  invalidated  future 
marriage.  Further,  the  words  of  Gratian  indicate  that  ordina- 
tion transformed  a  simple  vow,  already  taken,  into  a  solenui  vow, 
and  the  principle  was  repeated  in  a  decretal  of  Boniface  VI II .  - 
Of  course  a  marriage  existing  prior  to  the  taking  of  holy 
orders  was  not  armuled  by  them.^  Thus,  by  the  end  of  the 
twelfth  centur\^  there  had  been  developed  from  the  commands 
of  Siricius  that  the  married  clergj^  should  cease  conjugal  rela- 
tions, the  doctrine  that  ordination  rendered  them  incapable 
of  marriage.  Married  laymen  and  married  clergy-  of  the  minor 
orders  were  allowed  to  be  ordained,  however,  upon  the  condi- 
tion that  they  take  a  vow  of  chastity. 

'  Idem  sinpiilare  votum,  aliud  est  privatum,  aliud  solenmo.  Privatum  est 
in  ahscondito  factum;  Holemiie  vero  in  consppctu  eccle.siip  fartum.  (,)ui  priva- 
tum faciunt  votuni  contineiiti;!',  matrimoiiium  rontrahere  nou  delx'ut;  fpiia 
contrahendo  mortaliter  peccant.  8i  tamen  contraxerint,  nnn  soparoiitur, 
quiaprobari  non  potest  quod  occulte  fartum  e.st.  (^ui  vero  Holcmiiitor  vovcnl. 
nullatenus  conjunium  inire  fjuount;  fpiihus  non  .solum  nulx-rc,  .scd  et  vcllr. 
damnabilce.st.     Petri  Loml.anii  .Smtontirr,  T-ih.  1,  Dist.  3S'     I'at.  Lt.,  ]\)2,m'2 

'  Hie  di.stinRuendum  est,  (piod  Uducntium  alii  sunt  simpliritcr  uouimiIcs, 
alii  sunt,  quibus  post  uotum  accedit  hcncdirrm  ronsecrationis,  uel  propo- 
flitum  rrlJKioni.s,    ....    Corpus  Juris  Canoniri,  Dist.  27,  coumicni.  in  r.  S. 

P'urthor,  since  by  ordination  an  oflice  wils  (tssumcd  to  whicii  custom  ai\d  law- 
had  attached  the  prohibition  to  marry,  the  takinp  of  holy  orders  even  without 
a  vow  of  chastity,  was  considered  an  impediu)ent  to  m.'irri.-ipe.  Moncmus  ut 
universi  prcsbyteri  in  sacris  f)rdinil)us  constituti  contineant,  «'t  cjisti  viverc 
studeant,  cum  voto  continentia-  tarite  sint  constricti.  Synodus  ("liiromont<'n- 
sis.  Pars  2,  cap.  1 .     Harduin,  7.  001. 

Omnis  enim  rcripiens  ordinem  sacrum,  implicitc  s.-dtrm  committit  vottim 
continentife.  Oratio  Kpi.scopi  Laudcnsis  in  Constant.  Con,,  von  dcr  llardt, 
6,  P.  1,  125. 

>  Extrav.  Joh.,  22,  Tit.,  6,  cap.  un. 


36 

But  while  Papal  and  synodal  legislation  left  nothing  to  be 
desired  in  definite  enactment  and  severity  of  penalties,  it  was 
generally  disregarded  throughout  Christendom  during  the 
twelfth  centur>\  The  determined  efforts  of  Gregory  VII, 
Urban  II  and  Alexander  II,  had  been  without  lasting  effect 
upon  the  lives  of  the  clergy,  though  their  efforts  contributed 
much  to  the  measure  of  success  which  Innocent  III  enjoyed. 

As  Germany  was  separated  from  the  Papacy  by  the  schism 
which  originated  in  the  contest  between  Henry  IV  and  Gregory 
VII,  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  Papal  decrees  would  be 
obeyed  there,  and  although  the  action  of  the  Council  of  Guas- 
tella  (1106)  1  again  subjected  Germany  to  Papal  legislation, 
marriage  continued.  ^ 

In  France  the  clergy  were  equally  stubborn  in  their  refusal 
to  surrender  their  wives,  and  some  even  disregarded  the  laws 
against  bigamy.^ 

The  legislation  of  the  early  twelfth  century  in  Spain  shows 
that  the  decrees  of  Gregory  VII  had  not  found  more  than  partial 
obedience^  and  the  church  having  failed  to  enforce  its  laws, 
the  secular  authority  interposed,  punishing  the  guilty  priests 
with  deprivation  of  benefice  and  suspension  from  office,  and 
their  wives  and  children  with  slavery.^ 

The  chroniclers  of  events  in  England  during  the  late  eleventh 

>  Annalista  Saxoni.  (ann.  1 106),  Script.  (M.  G.  H. )  6,  745.  For  Council  of 
Guastella,  Harduin,  6,  P.  2,  1883. 

'  Non  erubescant  sacerdotes  uxores  ducere,  palam  nuptias  faciebant,  nefan- 
da  matrimonia  contrahebant  ....  Brunonis  Episcopi  Libellus.  Lib.  de 
Lite,  2,  546-547.  See  also,  Gerhohi  Tractatus  adversus  Simoniacos,  c.  2. 
Pat.  Lt.  194,  1338.     Gerhohi  Comment,  in  Psalm.  64,  c.49.     lb.  39-40. 

'  .  .  .  Ivonis  Carnotensis  Episcopus  Ep.  ad  Daimbertum;  Ep.  200.  Pat.  Lt- 
162,  207.  Ep.  277,  lb.  279.  Paschal  II  referred  thus  to  France:  Gravem 
valde  rem  ex  partibus  vestris  audivimus,  quia  post  tanta  sanctorum  decreta 
pontificum,  post  interdicta  conciliorum,  clericalis  ordinis  viri  qui  audent, 
publice;  qui  non  audent,  occulte  mulieribus  sociantur.  Paschalis  II  Ep.  Ep. 
415,  Pat.  Lt.  163,  369. 

*  Concubina;  clericorum  manifeste  ejiciantur.  Con.  Pal.  (1129),  c.  5.  Har- 
duin, 6,  P.  2,  2053.     See  also,  Paschalis,  II,  Ep.  10.     Mansi,  20,  1001. 

»  Las  Siete  Partidas,  P.  1,  Tit.  6,1,  41      T.  1,  141. 


37 

and  early  twelfth  centuries  describe  the  Anglo-Saxon  clergj^'  as 
hopelessly  sunken  in  sensual  pleasures.  ^  The  first  vigorous 
efforts  for  reform  after  Gregorj^  VII  were  opposed  on  the 
ground  that  to  deny  the  privilege  of  marriage  to  the  clergy 
would  result  in  offenses  infinitely  worse.  ^  The  exertions  of 
Anselm  (1102)  were  without  result,^  and  Honorius  II  sent 
John  of  Crema  to  England  (1126)  to  stamp  out  the  opposition 
there*  He  accomplished  nothing,  and  Henr>^  I  (1129).  who 
emploj^ed  threats  of  reform  as  a  means  of  extorting  monej'  from 
the  offending  priests,  likewise  failed.  ^  The  close  of  the  twelftli 
centurj^  apparently  saw  no  imjirovement,  for  sacerdotal  mar- 
riage was  common  during  the  reign  of  John,  and  continued  to 
be  practiced  to  some  degree  until  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth 
century.® 

In  Ireland  there  was  a  relaxation  of  all  ecclesiastical  disci- 
pline by  the  first  quarter  of  the  twelfth  centurj^  and  clerical 
marriage  with  the  hereditary  transmission  of  benefices  was 
general.'^  A  partial  reform  was  acc()mi)lished,  l)ut  in  the  second 
half  of  the  centur^^  the  English  invaders  brought  with  them 
their  married  priests  whose  customs  were  (piicklj-  imitated  bj' 

'  Optimates,  pulip  ft  vcneri  dediti,  occlcsiaiii  more  chrisliniio  iiiiiiie  iion 
adibant;  sed  in  cubiculo,  et  inter  uxorio.s  uiii|)li'xu.s,  iiiatuliniinini  solK'nijinia 
et  ini.ssanjm  a  festinante  presbytero  auribus  tantuni  libalmnt.  Do  (lestis  Uor- 
num  Anglorum,  Guillelmu.s  Malrnsljeriensis,  Lil).  3,  ^245.  Ronini  Hritanni- 
carum  Mcdii  Aovii  Scriptorcs,  <»0,  I*t.  2,  .'ini-JiO.').  Sec  mIho  ( )rd<Ticii.s  Vitnlis, 
Hist.  Ecclcs.  Lib.  4,  cap.  fi.     Socir^-tc';  de  THistoirc  dc  I'raiici-,  "J,  'JOS. 

'  Henrici  Hunt.  Hist.  Lil).  7.     Iter.  Brit.  Med.  Aev.  Script.  74,  'J.M. 

»  II).  234. 

♦  lb.  24.'>-246. 

'  Anglo-Saxon  Chronicle,  Ann.  llj't       l!<r.  Uril.  Mfd.  Ai-v.  Scrip),  2,  22ft. 

'  Pfx-ins  of  Walter  .Ma[)n.s,  ed.  Wright.  De  concniiiniH  Sacerdoluni.  IV 
171-172.     Ep.  Alex.  IH.  Mansi  21,  lOHH. 

'  Verum  nios  pe.s.siniU8  inf)levr!rat  rpioruindani  dial)oIica  ainbitifnie  poten- 
tum,  sedem  sanctum  obtx>ntum  iri  ha-redifaria  Hucccfwionc.  Noc  enim  pat ip- 
bantur  episcopari,  ni.si' qui  cs-sent  de  tribu  et  familia  Hua.  Nor  paniin  pro- 
ces.serat  ex.secranda  snccessio,  decursi.M  jam  in  har  malitia  (jujwi  general ionibun 
quindecim.     Bernardi  Vita  S.  Malachia',  cap.  10.     Tat.  Lt.  182,  lOSfl. 


dFif^OR:^ 


38 

the  Irish  clergj^  in  those  portions  of  the  island  where  the  two 
races  were  in  contact.^ 

This  centurj^  found  marriage  yet  prevalent  among  the 
bishops  of  Denmark,  and  so  probably  among  the  lower  clergy 
also.  2  Calixtus  II  was  the  first  Pope  to  turn  attention  to  this 
comer  of  Europe,  and  the  Council  of  Rheims  (ll20)  decreed 
that  the  Danish  clergy  should  give  up  their  wives.  ^  The  clergy 
of  the  Scandinavian  peninsula  were  undisturbed  as  yet,  for  not 
until  the  thirteenth  century  did  the  councils  of  Norway  and 
Sweden  introduce  the  Papal  legislation  concerning  marriage.^ 

In  Hungary  the  ecclesiastical  laws  of  King  Coloman,  dating 
from  the  first  decade  of  the  twelfth  century,  contain  the  first 
definite  prohibition  of  clerical  marriage.  They  forbid  married 
priests  and  deacons  to  officiate  at  the  altar  unless,  the  wife 
consenting  and  vowing  chastity,  they  be  forever  separated.^ 
Coloman's  laws  were  without  more  than  temporary  effect, 
however.  In  Poland  marriage  had  continued  without  restric- 
tion until  the  verj^  end  of  the  twelfth  century,  but  the  Papal 
legate,  Peter  of  Capua,  who  then  undertook  a  reformation, 
enjoj^ed  considerable  success  in  his  efforts  to  enforce  the 
canons.  ^ 

The  expected  results  of  ecclesiastical  marriage  were  not 
wanting.  The  sons  of  priests  frequently  succeeded  their 
fathers;  benefices  became  hereditary;  the  property  of  the 
church  was  portioned  among  the  sons  of  the  clergy.  In  Ireland 
hereditary  succession  was  the  rule,^  and  as  clerical  marriage 
was   usual   in   England,    it   probably   prevailed   there.  ^     The 

'  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  de  Rebua  a  se  Gestis,  Lib.  2,  cap.  13.  Rer.  Brit.  Med. 
Aev.  Script.  21,  66. 
'  Pontoppidan,  1,  152. 
»  lb.  1,  349. 

*  lb.  1,  349. 

'  Alberici  Compilatio  Dccrctorum  sub  Colomanno  Ilege,  c.  42.  P6terffy,  1, 
P.  l,p.  50. 

•  Harduin,  6,  P.  2,  1937. 

Dlugossi  Hiat.  Poloniae,  Lib.  6,  T.  1,  575. 

'  See  p.  36. 

«  Con.  Lond.  (1237),  c.  17.     Harduin,  7,  297. 


39 

words  of  the  Council  of  Rouen  (1189)  indicate  that  the  sons  of 
priests  were  often  ordained  to  the  benefices  of  their  fathers  ;i 
and  in  Spain  the  king  found  it  necessarj^  to  prohibit  the  same 
practice.  In  western  Germany  the  clergj'^  frequentty  por- 
tioned their  sons  from  the  property  left  in  their  care.^  Lucius 
III,  upon  his  accession  to  the  Papal  chair  (i  181), stated  that  he 
found  hereditary  succession  to  benefices  claimed  as  a  right. -^ 
The  thirtj^-first  canon  of  the  Lateran  Council  held  by  Innocent 
III  was  directed  against  this  custom,  and  the  fact  that 
this  important  assemblage  considered  that  it  demanded  de- 
cisive action,  proves  that  it  must  have  been  widespread.'* 

In  the  enforcement  of  celibacy,  as  in  so  manj'  other  parti- 
culars. Innocent  III  profited  by  the  zeal  and  activity'  of  his 
predecessors,  and  with  the  Papal  power  at  its  zenith,  was  able 
to  approach  nearer  than  hitherto  the  ideal  toward  which  they 
had  long  been  struggling.  The  impetus  which  his  vigor  and 
energy  gave  to  the  movement  culminated  within  a  generation 
after  his  death  in  the  promidgation  in  the  most  remote  jiarts 
of  Roman  Catholic  Christendom  of  the  law  of  celiliacy.     Coim- 

'  Con.  Rot.  (1189),  c.  6.     Harduin,  6,  P.  2,  190.5. 

'  Ecclesirr;  jure  horoflitario  a.  filii.s  .sacerdotum  po.ssidontur.  .  .  .  Coujuf^ati 
sacro.s  ordine.s  capiunt  ct  honoficia  ccclcsiiustica  et  coniuRcs  coniiiriKUiitur.  .  .  . 
.  .  .  Nee  res,  quas  acquirunt  post  ordines,  ecclesiis  sed  lilieri-s  suis  relinquunt 
.  .  .  .  EmonisChronicon,  aim.  1219.  Script.  (M.  G.  H.)  23,  491.  Menkonis 
Chronlcon  ann.  1271.     lb.  559. 

'  Sane  rclaf  ionis  vest rrr  tenore  coinpcrimus  pravaiii  ajxid  vos,  siih  pnrdcccs- 
sorum  vostronini  ncpjliKcntia,  consnctiidiiujin  intrndiirtatii,  (piod  filii  eonim, 
qui  vestra8eccle.sia«  tcnucrunt,  ut  .  .  .  patrihusal)  ipsi8antocos.s()ril»UH  luwtriH 
confiniiationom  do  ohfinondis  orcIc.'^ii.M,  rousccuti,  suli  rfprclx-iisjltili  nilliisidne 
volunt  ipH.a.s  ccclcHias  jure  HUCCcssioniH  habere,  et  laliuiii  rtinfirm.'ilioncm 
obtentu  aliqua  pensione  retcnta,  patres  filios  sibi  constituerc  HUccc8»orcH. 
Lurii  III  Ep.  88.     In  Pat.  Lt.  ati  Lucii  11  Ep.  94.     T.  179.  9.11. 

*  Afl  al)olpMdain  poH.sirnarn,  qurr  in  pleri.sque  itioU-vit  errlcHiiH  r(>rru|)l<'Iam, 
firmitor  prf)hil»einuH,  ne  rauoriiconini  filii,  inaxitne  Hpiirii,  ranotiiri  liant  in 
sa'cularibuH  eccle.siis,  in  cpiibus  instituti  Hunt  patres;  .   .   .  Con.  Lnt.  4,  c.  31 
Harduin,  7,  43. 


40 

cils  were  held  in  Norwa3^^  Sweden,  ^  Denmark  ^  and  Hungary  ^ 
in  which  were  enacted  canons  prohibiting  marriage.  As  in 
the  case  of  central  and  southwestern  Europe,  it  cannot  be 
positively  determined  whether  or  not  they  were  obeyed;  for 
the  word  concubine,  generally  used  by  contemporary  histor- 
ians and  chroniclers,  was  then  ambiguous,  being  applied 
indifferently  to  wives  and  to  illicit  consorts;  but  it  is  certain 
that  Innocent's  watchfulness  put  an  end  to  open  defiance  of 
the  law,  although  evasions  of  every  sort  were  employed.^ 

One  result  of  these  later  more  vigorous  efforts  to  enforce  the 
canons  was  an  increase  of  sexual  crimes  among  the  clergy. 
The  contemporary  chronicles  and  the  writings  of  both  the 
friends  and  enemies  of  the  church  show  that  many  of  its  minis- 
ters were  guilty  of  habitual  crime  and  that  many  others  were 
sunk  in  depravity.  Concubinage  was  the  commone.st  offence, 
and  the  councils  of  the  thirteenth  century  repeatedly  enacted 
prohibitions  against  it.^  The  many  references  to  the  keeping 
of  concubines  so  publicly  as  to  cause  scandal,  leaves  one  in 
doubt  whether  the  clergy  at  large  were  so  shameless  as  actu- 
ally to  keep  mistresses  openly,  or  whether  these  women  had 
been  secretly  married  to  them.  But  the  frequent  mention 
of  the  fact  that  the  woman  was  often  maintained  outside  the 
dwellings  of  the  ecclesiastics  makes  the  former  practice 
credible.'^ 

'  Pontoppidan,  1,  504. 

'  Innocentii  III  Regist.  Lib.,  16,  Ep.  118.  Pat.  Lt.  216,  914.  Con.  Schen. 
(1248).     Harduin,  7,  423. 

3  Pontoppidan,  1,  349.     Con.  Brem.  (1266).     Hartzheim,  4,  580. 

*  Synod.  Pos.  sub  Carolo  I.  (1209)   c.  5.     Peterffy  1,  P.  1,  140-141. 

*  For  action  of  the  Lateran  Council  (1215),  held  by  Innocent  III,  upon  celi- 
bacy, see  c.  14.     Harduin,  31  7,. 

«  For  thirteenth  century.  Con.  Lon.  (1200),  c.  10.  Harduin,  6,  P.  2,  1961. 
Constit.  Gallonis  (1208),  c.  1.  lb.  1975.  Constit.  Ricardi  Poor  Episc.  (1217), 
c.  6.  Harduin,  7,  90.  Con.  CJerm.  (1225),  c.  1.  lb.  137.  Con.  Rot.  (1231), 
c.  13.  lb.  186.  Con.  Lon.  (1237),  c.  16.  lb.  297.  Con.  Bit.  (1246),  c.  19, 
lb.,  410.     Con.Bitur.  (1286),c.7.     lb.  952.     Con.  Rot.  (1299),  c.  1.     lb.  1202. 

'  Inhibemus  etiam  districtius,  ne  clerici  in  sacris  ordinibus  constituti,  etiamsi 
beneficiati  non  fuerint,  in  propriis  domibus,  vel  in  alienis,  publice  focarias 


41 

This  widespread  disobedience  among  the  clerg;^'  of  the 
thirteenth  centurj'  gave  rise  to  many  enactments  directed 
against  the  consorts  of  ecclesiastics,  whether  wives  or  concu- 
bines, and  against  their  children.  The  purpose  of  this  legisla- 
tion was  to  prevent  the  clergj''  from  maintaining  or  enriching 
their  female  companions  and  children  with  church  propert}', 
and  also  to  make  the  condition  of  a  priest's  family  so  humiliat- 
ing that  women  would  be  deterred  from  accepting  such  a 
position,  and  the  clergj^  themselves  from  begetting  offsjiring 
doomed  to  an  ignominious  social  condition.  Leo  IX  had  en- 
slaved the  wives  of  the  Roman  clergj',  recommending  that  all 
bishops  do  likewise,  and  Urban  1 1  had  pursued  the  same  course,  ^ 
but  the  zeal  of  the  reformers  of  the  eleventh  centurj'-  was 
lacking  in  the  church  of  the  thirteenth  century  and  the  councils 

habeant,  unde  scandalum  oriatur,  Con.  Paris.,  (1212)  c.  4.  Harduin,  6,  P.  2' 
2001.  Addentes,  ne  clerici  beneficiati,  vel  in  sacris  ordinibus  constituti,  in 
hospitiis  suis  tenere  publice  concubinas  prit.sumant,  nee  alil)i  cum  scand.'ilo 
accessum  habeant  a  easdem.  Con.  Oxon.,  (1222),  c.  34.  Haniuin,  7,  122. 
See  further.  Con.  Col.,  (1260),  c.  1.  lb.  518.  Con.  Vien  (1267),  c.  1.  lb.  581. 
Con.  Sen.,  (1279),  c.  1.  lb.  649.  Con.  Lon.  (1268),  c.  8.  lb.  621.  Syn. 
Oxon.,  (1287),  c.  18.  lb.  1093.  The  wrath  of  the  church  .-uifhoritio.s  bcinR 
particularly  directed  against  the  ecclesiastica  who  dared  "(Ittirurc  pMirc  con- 
cubinaa"  seem.s  almost  like  connivance  with  those  who  in  their  relations  with 
women  did  not  "jamam  negligunl."  See  canons  and  references  of  above 
note;  also,  Con.  Crad.  (1296),  c.  15,  Mansi,  24,  1168.  Synod.  Col.  (1280). 
c.  2.  Harduin,  7,  821.  Con.  Her.  (1287),  c.  5.  lb.  1133.  To  di.sobey  the 
canons  forbidding  marriage  was  always  more  reprehensible  in  the  eyes  of 
the  church  than  to  maintain  a  concubine.  .  .  .  et  (luod  sacordofes  fiant 
mariti,  multo  esse  gravius  peccafum  quam  si  plurimius  domi  inerelrices 
alant.  .  .  .  Joannis  Slcdaiii  Conuiient.  Lil).  4,  p.  43,  Hasilia-,  1656. 
And  to  maintain  a  concubine  pul)Iicly  was  considered  worse  than  to  do  bo 
secretly;  the  rea.son  being,  of  coiirsr,  that  coiilimud  pul>lic  disubfdicnco 
was  a  defiance  of  ecclesiiustical  authority  which  brought  c(.iitriiipt  upon  tlio 
church.  De  cetcro  quia  St<!phanus  clericus  in  archdiaconatu  pnrdicti  archi- 
(^piscopi  adulteram  in  domo  sua  et  commatrcm  dicitur  detinrre;  si  hoc  p\ib- 
licurn  est  ct  nianifc.stuin,  oli  tantiim  excessum,  animadvcrsioiic  dcbitn.  nullius 
contradictione  et  appcliatione  obHtiiutc  corrigius.  Con.  I-at.  (1 17'.»).  Mansi  20, 
351.  Lucius  III  made  the  usual  distinction  between  open  and  secret  ofTenccii. 
.  Mansi,  22,  442. 

'  See  pages  22,  32. 


42 

were  contented  with  more  humane  measures.  Edmund, 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  decreed  that  the  guilty  women  should 
either  marry  or  enter  a  nunnery.  ^  They  were  forbidden  to 
attend  mass,  and  the  sacraments  of  the  church  were  refused 
them.  2  The  Council  of  Rouen  commanded  that  their  heads 
be  shaved  in  the  presence  of  the  people  on  Sunday  or  some 
other  solemn  occasion.  ^  Again,  it  was  enacted  that  they  be 
excommunicated  and  their  excommunication  publicly  an- 
nounced.'* They  were  often  forbidden  to  receive  any  of  the 
property'  of  the  church  by  testament,-^  but  the  action  of  the 
Council  of  Mainz  (1225),  shows  this  evil  to  have  been  almost 
ineradicable.  This  council  enacted  that  all  ecclesiastics  leaving 
the  fruits  of  their  benefices  to  concubines  or  children,  and  any  to 
whom  such  inheritances  might  descend,  were  to  be  refused 
Christian  burial.  Whoever  aided  in  the  preparation  or  execu- 
tion of  such  a  testament  was,  ipso  facto,  excommunicated,  and 
as  long  as  a  benefice  or  income  thus  bequeathed  was  in  the 
possession  of  such  heirs,  the  church  concerned  was  declared 
under  interdict.^ 

In  general,  the  church  authorities  opposed  the  succession  of 
sons  to  the  benefices  of  their  fathers  because  of  the  danger  that 
benefices  so  transferred  should  become  hereditary;  and  although 
canons  and  decretals  varied  as  to  legitimate  sons,  they  were 
unanimous  in  excluding  from  holy  orders  illegitimate  sons  who 
had  not  become  monks.''  Clement  III,  however,  contrary  to 
all  preceding  regulations,  expressly  permitted  the  legitimate 
sons  of  Irish  bishops  to  be  ordained  and  to  succeed  to  their 
fathers'  benefices,^  and  allowed  the  ordination  of  illegitimate 

'  Const.  Prov.  S.  Edmundi  Cant.  Episc.  c.  4.     Harduin,  7,  268. 

»  Con.  Oxon.  (1222),  c.  35.     lb.  122.     Con.  Lon.  (1268),  c.  8.     lb.  621. 

»  Con.  Rot.  (1231),  c.  13.     lb.  186. 

*  Synod.  Colon.  (1280),  c.  2.     lb.  821.     Synod.  Cic.  (1289),  c.  6.     lb.  1153. 
»  Con.  Mog.  (1261),  c.  27.      Mansi,  23,  1090.     Con.  Lan.  (1278),  c.  4.  Mansi, 

24,  213.  Synod.  Colon.  (1280),  c.  2.  Harduin,  7,  821.  Con  Mog.  (1225), 
c.  5.     Mansi,  23,  4.     Hartzheim,  3,  589,  595. 

•  Con.  Ger.  (1225),  c.  5.     Harduin,  7,  138-139. 

'  Corp.  Jur.  Canon.  Decretales  Gregorii  9,  Lib.  1,  Tit.  17,  cap.  1. 
«  lb.  cap.  12. 


43 


sons  when  a  Papal  dispensation  had  been  obtained.^  The 
fourth  Lateran  Council  forbade  illegitimate  sons  to  officiate  in 
their  fathers'  churches,  declaring  void  the  institution  of  all 
such  in  the  paternal  benefices.  ^  The  later  canons  of  the 
thirteenth  century  were  in  agreement  with  this,  and  strictly 
forbade  the  succession  of  sons  without  distinction  as  to  legality 
of  birth.  The  decree  was  usually  accompanied  by  the  com- 
mand that  thej'  receive  no  property  from  their  fathers  by 
testament.  The  clergj^  were  commanded  neither  to  keep  their 
children  in  their  own  homes  because  of  the  scandal  it  would 
cause, ^  nor  to  be  present  at  their  marriages  or  funerals.^  The 
Hungarian  Council  of  Ofen  (1279)  enacted  that  the  children 
of  ecclesiastics  should  be  the  slaves  of  the  church.^ 

Aside  from  concubinage,  and  marriage,  which  all  this  legisla- 
tion shows  to  have  been  common,  the  clergy  were  guilty  of 
much  more  serious  crimes.  The  constitutions  of  Gallo,  Pajial 
legate  in  Germany,  ordain  that  priests  shall  not  dwell  in  the 

'  lb.  cap.  14. 

'  lb.  cap.  16. 

»Con.  Bud.  (1279),  c.  26.  Hiirduin,  7,  798.  Con.  Lan.  (127.S),  c.  14. 
Mansi,  24,  213.     Con.  Bit.  (1286),  c.  8.     lb.  952. 

*  Syn.  Colon.  (1280),  c.  2.     Harduin,  7,  821. 

'  Hefele,  Conciliengeschichte,  6,  192.  But  these  unlucky  individuals  who 
were  thu.s  despised  by  their  fellow  men,  and,  at  finies,  persecuted  l)y  the 
church,  were  not  without  defenders.  Their  own  iiniocence  and  llie  injustice 
of  the  trcatnu;nt  to  which  they  were  Hul)jected  wius  i)roved  by  a  ioiiK  array  of 
those  arguments  wliicli  were  dear  to  tin;  heart  of  the  mediaeval  man.  It  was 
urged  th:it  the  frequent  use  in  the  .New  Testament  of  the  words,  "our  f.-ither," 
showed  that  all  Christians  were  brothers;  that  by  baptism  they  ii.-id  Ixen 
made  one  body,  heirs  of  (\nd,  a  cho.scn,  holy  rare,  and  that  consequently  the 
sons  of  clerks  could  not  be  excluded  from  the  priesthood.  It  wnn  noted  that 
the  children  of  priests  had  been  fMuious  and  honor.'iblr;  cximipli's  being 
John  the  Ba]jtiHt  who  wa.s  a  son  of  Zacliari.'is,  and  the  N'irgin  Miiry  who  wna 
a  descendant  of  Aaron.  In  the  genealogy  of  Christ  him.self  were  mentioned 
four  women,  so  that  it  might  be  made  known  that  the  Saviour  of  sitmers  did 
not  disdain  t^)  be  born  of  woman.  Solomon,  an  illegitimate  a<in,  wiu*  allowed 
to  l)uild  the  teml)le,  which  honor  was  denied  to  David,  althr.ugh  he  vfn»  of 
legitimate  birth.  d'Achery,  Spiceligium.  3,  448-419.  Lib.ili  d.'  bile 
(M.  G.  H.)  3,  649  aq. 


44 

same  houses  with  their  mothers  or  other  female  relatives.  ^ 
In  order  that  there  might  be  no  suspicion  of  illicit  relations, 
another  German  synod  forbade  priests  to  dwell  with  their 
mothers,  sisters,  or  aunts;  and  similar  provisions  indicative  of 
depravity  are  to  be  found  in  the  enactments  of  other  councils.  2 
Such  offences  were  probably  unusual,  however,  although  these 
and  similar  enactments,  combined  with  other  evidence,  for 
example,  the  sweeping  denunciation  of  Alexander  IV,  prove 
that  in  the  thirteenth  century,  many  of  the  clergy  were  morally 
degraded.^ 

'  Moneantur  quoque,  ne  matres  vel  uxores,  aliasque  conjunctas  personas 
secum  habeant;  cum  quibus  etsi  nihil  siEvi  criminis  focdus  naturale  existimari 
permittat,  tamen  frequenter,  suggerente  diabolo,  cum  talibus  noscitur  fuisse 
facinus  perpetratum.     Const.  Gallon,  c.  1.     Harduin,  6,  P.  2,  1975. 

^  Stat.  Synod.  Eccles.  Nem.  c.  5.  Martene,  Thesaurus  Anecdotorum,  4, 
1044,  1102.  Eadmeri  Hist.  Nov.  Lib.  4.  Rev.  Brit.  Med.  Aev.  Script.  81, 
213.'  Poems  of  Walter  Mapes,  156-157.  Matt.  Paris.  Chron.  Maj.  Rer. 
Brit.  Med.  Aev.  Script.  57,  Pt.  3,  430-431.  Stat.  Ecc.  Col.  (1260),  Hartzheim. 
3,  589.  Con.  Oxon.  (1222)  c.  34.  Harduin,  7,  122.  Con.  Rot.  (1231),  c.  13. 
lb.  186.  Con.  Prov.  Fitzlar.  (1246).  Hartzheim,  3,  574.  Con.  Mog.  (1261), 
0.27,  39.  lb.  604,  606-607.  Con.  Lon.  (1168),  c.  8.  Harduin,  7,  621.  Con. 
Bit.  c.  7.     lb.  952. 

5  Sed  ecce  Lethalis  incuria>  sopor  pastoralis  vit«  vigilantium,  quod  gementes 
dicimus,  opressise  videtur  in  plurimis,  prout  testatur  nimia  de  plerisque  re- 
gionibus;  damans  christiani  populi  correptela,  quae  cum  deberet  ex  sacerdo- 
talis  antidoti  curari  medelis,  invalescit,  proh  dolor,  ex  malorum  contagione, 
quod  procedit  a  clero,  ita  ut  alicubi  verum  sit,  quod  ex  Prophetica  querela 
testatur;  Factus  est  inquiens,  sicut  populus  sic  sacerdos.  Malitiam  namque 
dierum  labentium,  quae  cum  tempore  corrupit  et  mores,  dante  quam  plurimis 
ex  impuniate  audacia  semper  in  deteriora  proclivem  infrenis  licentia>  liber- 
tatem,  nonuUi  clerici  pra^cipiti  lubricse  voluptatis  arbitrio  laxas  committentes 
habentem,  post  camis  suae  concupiscentias  abierunt  et  relegata  pcene  penitus 
a  conversatione  vitae  suaj  clericalis  mundicia-,  honestate,  tenent  etiam  in  con- 
spectu  populi  concubinas,  cum  quibus  impudica?,  frontis  irreverentiam  induens 
foedas  manus  et  fcetidas,  quas  sordidis  libidinose  coninquinationis  fcetibus 
immiserunt,  non  erubescunt  in  suum  periculum,  et  ruinam  populi  sacris 
ministeriis  immisceri,  a  quibus  ob  pul)lici  concubinatus  insaniam  quae  nulla 
tergiversatione  sceleris,  vel  secundum  scita  canonum,  tam  quoad  se  quam 
ad  alios  sunt  suspensi,  et  ne  quis  talium  Missam  audire  prajsumat,  arctius  in 
eorum  contemptum  Canonicaj  auctoritatis  constitutio  interdicit.  Chron. 
Aug.  Ep.  Alex.  4.     Freher  et  Struve  1,  546. 


45 

Under  Boniface  VIII  the  legislation  concerning  celibacy 
was  completed  for  the  time  being.  He  forbade  the  admission 
to  minor  orders  of  men  who  did  not  intend  to  proceed  to  major 
orders,  which  tended  to  prevent  marriage  among  the  former,  ^ 
and  mitigated  the  severity  shown  to  clerks  of  the  minor  or- 
ders bj^  securing  to  them  the  canonical  privileges  of  the  clergy 
as  long  as  thej'  wore  the  tonsure  and  clerical  vestments. - 

The  history  of  the  fourteenth  century  is  a  repetition  of  that 
of  the  thirteenth,  repeated  legislation,  open  or  secret  disobedi- 
ence, illicit  indulgence,  unmentionable  sins.  If  the  descrip- 
tions of  the  clergy  upon  which  we  must  depend  for  information 
had  proceeded  from  the  enemies  of  the  church,  their  authors 
might  be  liable  to  the  charge  of  wilful  exaggeration.  But  the 
fact  that  men  of  unquestioned  orthodoxy  and  undoubted 
loyalty  concur  in  their  judgments  of  the  morals  of  the  hier- 
archy renders  their  testimony  unimpeachable.  When  John 
Ruysbroch^  of  the  Netherlands,  Matthew  of  Cracow,'*  Benedict 
XII, 5  and  many  others  unanimously  declare  that  the  clergy 

'  Corp.  Jur.  Canon.  Sexti  Decretales,  Lib.  1,  Tit.  9,  cap.  4. 

»  lb.  Lib.  3,  Tit.  2,  cap.  1.  Boniface  VIII  summed  up  in  final  form  the 
rules  concerning  the  effect  of  vows  in  preventing  marriage.  .  .  .  prii'.sentis 
declarandum  duximus  oraculo  .sanctionis,  iUud  solum  votiim  dol>cre  dici 
Bolenne,  quantum  ad  post  contractum  matrimonium  diriiiiciuiiim,  (juod 
solennisatum  fucrit  per  susceptionem  sacri  ordinis,  aut  per  professionem 
expressam  vel  tacitam,  factam  alicui  de  religionibua  per  scdem  aposlolicaiu 
approhatis.  Heliqua  vcro  vota,  ct.si  (luaiiJoque  matrimonium  imiu'diant 
contraheiidum,  et  (juanto  manifcstius  sunt  cmissa,  taiilo  propter  plurimum 
scandalum  et  exemplum  durior  pirnitentia  transBrc.s.soril)US  dcbcatur,  uoii 
tamen  rcscinderc  possunt  matrimonia  post  contracta.     It>.   I-il'.  ''i    lit-   l-'>, 

cap.  un. 

'  (iuam  vcro  probosum  ac  detcstandum  est  quosdam  ex  rclniH  crrlesiu-sticis 
victitant€s,  quos  anima  et  corporc  castos  esse  oporf<'l)at,  |);il.im  dnmi  sua- 
proles  ex  se  genitas  alerc  ac  sustcntare,  aU\w  irido  tamen  noii  solum  tiullo 
nibore  affiri,  nuUo  pudore  .suffundi,  sod  etiam  multum  |)laciTe  .sibi,  imtiikIo 
ac  si  ex  legitimi.s  e;us  uxoribus,  susccperint.     Joamiis  Hu.sbrochii  Opera,  p.  IfiO. 

*  Concubinatus  in  clerico  pui)lice  et  solcmniter  cxercetur.  Matthaei  de  Craco- 
via  Episco.  Vorm  de  Squal.  Horn.  Cur.  cap.  2.     Mon.  Med.  Aov.  Walchi,  T.  6, 8. 

»  .  .  .  in  Hispania,  ul)i  multa  liona  et  salubri.i  ordiii.ivit,  ronstitutionesquO 
fecit    quam    plurimas,    pra'sertim    contra   concubinarios    ucdeniaaticoa,    qu" 


46 

maintained  illicit  relations  with  women,  there  is  no  reason  to 
doubt  their  assertion,  particularly  as  contemporary  denials  of 
it  do  not  appear. 

The  fifteenth  century  not  onlj^'  saw  no  improvement  in 
ecclesiastical  morality,  but  witnessed  the  failure  to  make 
reforms  by  the  agency  from  which  the  best  results  were  ex- 
pected, a  General  Council.  That  the  efforts  of  the  Council  of 
Constance  were  fruitless  was  not  due  to  any  lack  of  conscious- 
ness of  the  needs  of  the  church,  but  to  jealousies  which  had  their 
source  in  national  antagonism,  politics  and  the  conflicting  privi- 
leges of  the  orders  of  the  hierarchy.  Moreover  as  it  was  the 
very  members  of  the  council  themselves  who  most  needed 
reformation,  there  was  little  likelihood  that  vigorous  and 
efficient  measures  would  be  adopted. 

The  many  sermons  and  addresses  delivered  at  the  council  by 
churchmen  from  all  parts  of  Europe  deserve  some  credence  as  a 
picture  of  the  clergy  of  that  time.  As  in  all  periods  since  the 
canons  had  rendered  them  incapable  of  contracting  a  legal 
marriage,  they  dwelt  with  w^omen  to  whom  they  were  bound 
by  every  marital  tie  save  that  of  a  formal  marriage  ceremony.  ^ 
The  effect  of  this  practice  upon  their  congregations  was  most 
pernicious,  for  it  accustomed  them  to  evil  wath  the  invariable 
result.^     Other  crimes  were  common,  and  the  earnest  church- 

protunc   erant   in    illis   partibus   infiniti.     Vitse   Paparum   Aven.     Baluzius, 
Prima  Vita  Benedicti  XII,  T.  1,  204. 

Litterse  Benedicti  XII.  Miscellan.  Baluzius,  P.  264.  Gersonis  Opera,  T.  2, 
Append. 

*  Et  maxime  obviandum  esset  illi  scandalosissimaj  consuetudini,  seu  potius 
corruptelaj,  qua  plure.s  hodie  non  verentur  tenere  publico  concubinas.  Petri 
de  Alliaco  Card.  Cam.  Tract,  de  Reformatioiie.  Gersonis  Opera,  2,  Append. 
913.  Crimen  pra,'fatum  (concubinage)  in  multis  locis  cum  maximo  catho- 
licorum  scandalo,  et  in  totius  clericalis  contemtura  ordinis  frequentatur.  von 
der  Hardt,  1,  P.  10,  635. 

'  Cum  propter  crimen  concubinatus,  quo  multi  Ecclesiastici  et  religiosi  viri 
insciuntur,  habeantur  Ecclesia  Dei  et  totus  clerus  in  derisum,  abominationem 
et  opprobrium  cunctis  gentibus;  et  illud  nefandissimum  scelus  in  Ecclesia  Dei 
adeo  invaluit,  ut  jam  non  credant  christiani  simplicem  fornicationem  esse 
peccatum  mortale.     Con.  Paris.  (1429)  c.  23.     Man.si,  23,  1107. 


47 

men  bent  upon  reform  were  unsparing  in  their  denunciations 
of  their  offending  brethren.  ^  Their  misdeeds  were  so  frequent 
and  so  unconcealed  that  the  example  set  by  them  was  generally 
accounted  an  evil  influence  upon  their  parishioners,  and 
Nicholas  of  Clemangis  reckoned  non-residence  a  benefit  to  the 
people  for  this  reason.  ^  As  in  the  past,  ecclesiastical  property' 
was  seriously  impaired  by  the  extravagances  of  luxurious 
living  and  the  bestowal  of  dowries  and  inheritances.  ^ 

The  moral  condition  of  many  of  the  clergy  had  long  been  so 
abhorrent  to  conscientious  churchmen  of  pure  lives,  and  so 
dangerous  to  those  within  the  range  of  their  influence,  that  the 
natural  corrective  was  suggested  by  some  ecclesiastics,  and  in 
some  cases  applied  by  the  laity.  In  parts  of  western  Europe 
clerical  marriage  was  looked  upon  by  them  as  a  safeguard  for 
the  virtue  of  their  wives  and  daughters,  and  as  the  only  remedy 
for  the  flagitious  lives  of  priests  and  prelates.  In  Spain  the 
people  compelled  many  of  the  clergy  to  take  wives,  and  early 

'  Nunc  multo  magis  dici  possunt,  quia  ecclesia  a  malisa  ad  peiora  processit 
et  in  omni  tam  spiritual!  quain  temporali  statu  abiecto  decore  virtutuin,  in 
variain  cecidit  turpitudinem  vitioruin.  Auctoris  Anon.  Oratio.  Mon.  Med. 
Aev.,  Fasci.  Sec.  p.  155. 

Sed  quain  flagitiosum  sit  in  viris  ecclcsiastici.s  et  maxinie  prelatis  ad  cult  inn 
vinia;  Domini  conductis  enarare  non  est  facile,  neque  ego  (juoniodo  illos  de- 
Bcribam,  autcui  monstro  comparem,  scio.    Mon.  Med.  Aev.,  Fasc.  Tert.  p.  108. 

'  Sed  quid  eorum  tantopere  a  suis  sedibus  absentiain  accusaniua,  cum  per 
suam,  si  illic  adessont,  j)rii'sciitiatn  vorisimiliu.s  obcsse  quain  prodcs-so  posscnt. 
.  .  .  qui  suo  turpi  exeniplo  grcKein  per  devia  aliducunt  in  pra-cipitiuni, 
.  .  .  Nicolaus  de  Clemangis  de  Corrupto  Ecclesia;  Statu.  Fasciculus  Kerum 
Expetendarum  ac  Fiigiendarum.     T.  2,  Appen.  p.  562. 

'  Postremo,  (luirquid  de  l)f)nis  ecclesijr  cum  (urpibus  pcrsduis  consuinunt 
sacerdotes  et  clerici.  .  .  .  Dionysius  Curthusianus,  Opera  MiiKtra.  T.  1,  art. 
21,  409. 

Vilis  plebs  te  sacerdotum  nunc  cachinnis  aUiue  ludibriis  incessit,  et  odit  qui 
columniandi  ansain  ultm  pni'bueris.  Dicit  iiamquc;  'Pot  hir  aut  ille  ftrorta 
domi  sua'  ex  patrinumio  Crucifixi  nutrit,  quo  non  sordida  scoria,  sed  pauprres 
Christi  forent  .sustentandi.     Fasc.  Iter.  Expet.  ac  Fug.  fol  210. 

Paul  III  complained  that  the  clergy  of  all  Christendom  thus  \va.strd 
ecclesiastical  y)ropcrty.  Con.  Aug.  Wilkins.  .3,  ()05-<M)(i  Sec  also  (Jratio 
Theobaldi  Theologi.,  von  der  Hardt  1,  Pt.  1<J,  908. 


48 

111  the  sixteenth  century  the  same  practice  prevailed  in  Switzer- 
land. ^  The  crime  for  which  prevention  was  thus  sought  must 
have  been  common,  if  so  ardent  a  defender  of  clerical  celibacy 
as  Gerson  could  be  led  by  it  to  assert  that  it  were  better  for 
marriage  to  be  allowed  than  for  the  clergy  to  continue  as  they 
were.^ 

This  and  the  other  evil  results  of  celibacy  had  been  foreseen 
by  St.  Bernard  of  Clairvaux  and  the  rule  had  been  opposed  by 
him  on  the  ground  that  it  would  result  in  filling  the  church  with 
all  manner  of  uncleaness.  ^  The  same  argument  had  been  used 
bj^his  predecessors;  for  from  the  time  of  Paphnutius  in  the  first 
quarter  of  the  fourth  century  there  had  been  a  steady  and,  at 

'  Quia  vero  nonulli  laicorum  clericos  compellunt,  in  sacris  praecipue  ordini- 
bus  constitutes,  ut  aliquas  mulieres  concubinas  recipiant,  et  cum  eis  in  contu- 
bernio  publice  vivant.     .     .     .     Con.  Pal.  (1322),  c.  7.     Mansi,  25,  703. 

Die  Schonische  Bauren  batten  bereits  am  Ende  des  vorigen  Seculi  dieses 
unter  andern  als  eine  Ursache  ihres  Aufruhrs  angegeben,  dass  kraft  des  ersten 
Verbots,  einige  Priester  bei  ihnen  die  Eheweiber  fahren  lassen,  und  funden  sich 
genothigt,  beym  Ertz-Bischoffen  darauf  zu  insistieren,  dass  einem  Priester 
sein  eigen  Weib  zu  haben  eriaubt  seyn  mogte.     Pontoppidan  1,  637. 

^  Vel  inexperti  forte  erant  hi  doctores  quam  generale  et  quam  radicatum  si* 
hoc  malum,  et  quod  deteriora  flagitia  circa  uxores  aut  filias  parochianorum  et 
abominationes  horrendse  in  aliis  provenerint  apud  multas  patrias,  rebus 
stantibus  ut  stant,  si  qua-rentur  per  tales  censuras  arceri.  Scandalum  certum 
magnum  est  apud  parochianos  curati  ad  concubinam  ingressus,  sed  longe 
deterius  si  erga  parochianas  suas  non  servaverit  castitatem.  De  Vita  Spirit. 
Anima;,  Lect.  4,  Cor.  14.     Opera  Johannis  de  Gerson,  P.  3.     Strasbourg,  1494. 

Some  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  evil  may  be  obtained  from  the  following  extract. 
De  luxuria  etiam  eorundem  q>iid  dicam?  Cum  ipsa  jam  facta  impudicam 
Prselatorum  ac  sacerdotum  vitam  apertissime  clament.  Nulli  enim  parcunt 
statui  aut  sexui  feminarum,  et  sive  virgines  sint,  sive  moniales,  sive  seculares, 
aut  alterius  conditionis,  indifferente  sunt  ad  omnes.  Theoderici  Vrie  Historia 
Con.  Const.,  von  der  Hardt  1,  P.  1,  69. 

'  Res  tamen  tam  in  aperto  est,  ut  mirer  quomodo  unquam  homini  christiano 
persuaderi  potuorit,  nisi  quod  hi  adeo  aut  bestiales  sunt,  ut  non  advertant, 
qualiter  omni  iinniunditia;  laxat  habenas,  qui  nuptias  damnat;  .  .  .  Tolle 
de  ecclesia  honorabile  connubium  et  torum  immaculatum  (Heb.  13,  4), 
nonne  reples  eam  concubinariis,  incestuosis,  seminifluis,  mollibus,  masculorum 
concubitoribus,  et  omni  denique  genere  immundorum  Bernardi  Sermones 
in  Cantica.     Ser.  66,  §3.     Pat.  Lt.  183,  1095. 


49 

times,  powerful  opposition  to  celibac}^  which  continued  to  the 
time  of  the  Council  of  Trent  and  proceeded,  not  from  those 
who  desired  relief  from  its  restrictions,  but  from  ecclesiastics, 
both  secular  and  regular,  who  were  moved  to  resistance  solely 
by  the  terrible  consequences  to  clergy  and  people  which  it 
entailed.  According  to  Peter  Comestor,  the  devil  had  never 
circumvented  the  church  so  successfully  as  when  the  vow  of 
celibacy  was  introduced.^  Alexander  III,  horrified  at  the  evil 
lives  of  the  clergj'  and  the  danger  in  which  it  placed  the  church, 
advocated  a  return  to  the  custom  of  the  Greek  Church,  and  his 
proposal  was  supported  by  all  but  one  of  the  members  of  his 
Curia  whose  opposition  resulted  in  its  rejection.  ^  Aeneas 
Sylvius,  who  became  Pope  Pius  II,  recommended  the  same 
course  and  had  the  concurrence  of  other  churchmen  therein.^ 
Among  them  was  the  famous  canonist,  Nicholas  Tudcschi,  who 
urgued  that  since  the  results  of  the  law  of  celibacy  had  not  been 
to  produce  a  more  spiritual  and  unworldly  clergy,  but  on  the 
contrary',  one  stained  Ijy  illicit  indulgence  and  the  most  grievous 
sins,  it  would  be  salutary  for  the  church  and  in  the  interests 
of  the  salvation  of  souls,  to  decree  that  only  those  who  desired 
to  remain  celibates  should  be  allowed  to  take  a  vow  of  chastity.  "* 

'  Giruldus  Camhrensis  Clenima  Ecclesiiu,  Dist.  2,  cap.  (i.  Iter.  Brit.  Med. 
Aev.  Script.  21,  P.  2,  187. 

'  lb. 

'  Platina,  De  Vif.-i  Pii  II.,  329. 

*  Nichohus  TudeHchi,  Lectura.  T.  .3,  Itiihr.  dc;  cler.  coiiiuK.,  Super,  caiioii 
cum  olim.  The  opinion  that  the  privile«e  of  marriage  .should  l)e  extended  U) 
the  clergy  was  not  uncommon  among  men  high  in  the  service  of  the  rliurch. 

Item,  circa  coricubitiario.s  providcatiir  cum  efTcctu,  .-dia.s  sic  ncgiigendo 
pra-staret  permittere  coniugium  cicrici.s.  Franci.sri  ZaKarcll.e  Card.  Flor. 
Capita  .   .   .  de  Reformatione,  cap.  12.     von  der  Hanlt,  I'    '.I,  .'>2». 

Quamvis.seniogravor,  nequc  mentcm  haheo  ad  coniugiutn,  Hancf  iiiri  tatnen 
arhitror,  uxorcs  rcstituis  HacerdotihuH;  quia  nf)n  est  ()miiil)UH  gratia  Deicoii- 
ce8.sa,  ut  Icgi  lumhorum  re.siHtant,  ut  de  Paulo  lcgimu.«.  I'lx)  rart  from  a  H|M'ech 
of  the  Cardinal  of  St.  Peter  at  Bfisel.  Milman.  Hi.story  of  Latin  ChriHtianity, 
7,  .W2. 

Alain  de  Charticr,  Secretary  of  Charles  VII  of  France,  expre.s.se(l  hiuiHcIf 
thu.s  concerning  celil)acy.  Or  fut  il  pieca  fait  ting  nouuel  statut  en  legliHo 
latine  qui  desscura  lordre  du  sanct  mariage  dauec  lu  dignite  dc  preatrise  aoubz 


50 

The  chief  jjiirpose  of  the  Council  of  Basel  was  the  reformation 
of  these  evils,  but  like  the  Council  of  Constance,  it  did  nothing 
to  make  the  existing  legislation  more  effective,  and  simply 
passed  anew  the  oft-repeated  canons.  ^ 

During  the  half  century  immediately  following  the  Council, 
and  in  the  opening  decades  of  the  sixteenth  century,  clerical 
morality  continued  unimproved,  if  the  testimony  of  contemp- 
oraries is  to  be  believed.  2  As  in  the  past  the  priests  were 
charged  with  corrupting  the  people  both  by  example  and  by 
deliberate  seduction.  ^     The   members  of  the  hierarchy  upon 

couleur  de  purete  et  chaste  sans  souilleur;  mainteant  court  le  statut  de  con- 
cul)inage  au  contraire  et  les  a  attraitz  aux  estatz  raondains  et  aux  delictz 
sensuelz  et  corporelz.  Les  Oeuvres  d'Alain  Chartier,  Le  Curial,  p.  88.  Que 
apporte  la  constitution  de  non  marier  les  prestres  sinon  tourner,  et  euiter 
legitime  generation  pour  conuertir  en  aduoultrie;  et  Ihoneste  cohabitation 
dune  seule  epouse  en  multiplication  de  eschouldee  luxure.     lb. 

'  Con.  Basil.  Sess.  20.     Harduin,  8,  1194. 

'  Hinc  quosdam  religiosos  et  sacerdotes  ac  clericos  in  sacris  ordinibus  consti- 
tutes, videmus  multo  incorrigibiliores  et  obstinatiores,  carnaliores  quam  laicis 
ac  mundanis  hominibus.  Dionysius  Carthusianus.  Opera  minora.  T.  l,art. 
18,  387.  Porro  quam  multa  atque  enormia  scelera,  quam  nocentissima 
scandala,  quam  lamentaliilis  ac  deflenda  deformatio  et  ruina  nascantur  ex 
cohabitatione  mulierum  cum  sacerdotibus  atque  canonicis,  experimentaliter 
et  ad  oculum  innotescit,  ita  ut  iam  a  capite  usque  ad  pedes  quasi  nulla  sit 
sanitas,  sicut  Osee  propheta  praidixit,  Fornicatio  et  adulterium  inundaverunt. 
lb.  art.  12,  461.     See  also  art.  20,  21,  55,  408-409,  409-410,  503.     Further, 

DiviLaurentii  Justinian)  Opera,  cap.  16,  499,  and  Faac.  Rer.  Expet.  ac  Fug. 

p.  386. 

^  SjBpenumero  enim  compertum  est,  ut  quum  ita  consecratis,  prsesertim 
sacerdotibus,  per  jura  canonica  legitimse  uxores  sunt  interdicti;  quod  dehinc 
pudicitiam  matronarum,  virginum,  laicorum  scilicet  uxorum,  filiarum  soror- 
umque  attantant,  ac  noctu  inter  diuque  sollicitant.  EfTiciunt  quoque  per 
assiduum  ac  indefessum  laborem,  partim  muneribus,  donis  ac  blanditiis,  ut 
complures  honesttc  alioque  virgines  ac  matronie,  partim  etiam  in  secretis, 
qua.s  vocant,  confessionibus  (id  quod  eventu  ipso  compertum  est)  diuturna 
opera  labefactentur,  ad  peccata,  offendiculaque  commoveantur.  Nee  raro 
etiam  evenit,  ut  ii,  uxores  ac  filias,  martiis  patribusque  detineant  ac  rem- 
orentur;  minantes  interim,  gladio,  acqua,  ignive,  ulteros  repetitas  uxores; 
Sacri  Romani  Imperii  Principum  ac  Procerum  Gravamina  centum  cap.  21. 
Goldast,  Const.     Imperiales,  T.  1,  464. 


51 

whom  depended  the  maintenance  of  disciphne  were  sometimes 
lax,  and  frequently,  as  had  long  been  the  custom,  accepted 
bribes  for  allowing  the  priests  to  retain  their  wives  or  concu- 
bines.^ According  to  Trithemius,  so  many  priests  lived  open- 
ly with  women  to  whom  they  were  bound  by  licit  or  illicit 
ties  that  they  were  beginning  to  view  marriage  as  their  right; 
and  he  states  that  if  any  bishop  had  wished  to  enforce  obed- 
ience in  his  diocese,  he  would  have  been  deterred  bj''  the  very 
multitude  of  offenders. ^  Those  more  enlightened  and  far-see- 
ing among  the  clergj^  who  were  able  to  inter] )rct  the  signs  of 
the  times  and  saw  that  revolution  was  coming,  assign  as  one 
of  its  principal  causes  the  flagitious  lives  of  their  depraved 
brethren.  3 

Nulla  sacerdotum  luxu  nunc  casta  puella  est.  .  .  Conradi  Celtis  Elegia 
Amorum,  Vienna  et  Norimbergse  1502,  Fol.  30. 

'  Quod  pralati,  prsesertim  cpiscopi,  innumeris  atque  magnis  vitiis  involvun- 
tur,  qui  peccata  subditorum  suorum  non  satis  acriter  ac  frequenter  corripiunt 
et  castigant.     Dion  Carthus.  cap.  31,  p.  391. 

Jam  illud  obsecro  quale  est,  quod  plerisque  in  Diocesibus,  rectores  par- 
ochiaruin  ex  certo  et  conducto  cum  suis  Pra'latis  pretio,  passim  et  publice 
concubinas  tenent  Nichlaus  de  Clemangis,  de  Corrupt.  Eccles.  Stat.  Fasc. 
Rer.  Expct  et  Fug.  2,  .502. 

Quia  vero  in  quilju.sdiim  rcgionil)us  nonulli  jurisdictioncm  ccclesiasticam 
habente.s,  pccuniarios  qiia'Stus  a  concubinariis  perciperc  non  eruljcscunt,  .  .  . 
Con.  Ha.sil.  Sess.  20,  Harduin,  8,  1194.  For  further  statements  of  the 
existence  of  this  custom,  see  Dion,  f.-irtlms.  art.  19,  lOS.  Synod.  l{ogia 
(1507).  liatthyani  1,  508.  Synod.  Strig.  I'rov.  Pet.Tify  1,  V.  1,212.  (irnv. 
centum  Ger.  nationis.  (1522),  Fa.sc.  Rer.  Expet.  ac  Fug.  cap.  91,  f.  187. 

'  Adeo  vitium  hoc  incontinentise  in  clero  iam  pnevaluit,  ut  (jujisi  ctrperit 
e.s.so  lififum,  (\u\ii  pu!)lirum  est.  Johannis  Trithemii  opera  pia  et  spiritiialia. 
Moguntia-,   1001.     Instil.  Vita-  sarcrdotiilis,  ra|).   I,  7()9. 

*  Pico  della  Mirandol.i  Iti  a  tr.icf,  which  was  addressed  to  Leo  X  and  the 
Latcran  Council  held  by  liim,  (h;dared  that  iin  intestine  revolution  coiiiil  only 
be  prevented  l)y  maintenance  of  disrii)line.  He  then  proc(!C(is:  Luxuin 
cohibe  ruiuscimque  ordinis,  modum  (xine  ambitione,  compesee  indormitos, 
et  effrenatos  libidinis  ob.sc(rna!  furores,  suspectis  sacerdotum  .  .  .  contu- 
bernis  frena  constitue  .  .  .  Fasc.  Her.  Exjiet.  ac  Ftig.  f.  209.  See  also 
Oratio  habita  in  Synodo  al)  A.  C.  Lynniehano.  lb.  f.  217.  .larobi  Winipliel- 
ingii  Apologia  pro  Hep.  (Christ.  Argentina?,  1605.  cap.  1 1. 

Cardinal  Campeggio,  Papal  legate  to  (iermany,  referred  thus  to  the  opinion 


52 

Their  predictions  were  soon  fulfilled,  but  as  the  revolution 
had  its  source  in  the  doctrinal  disputes  originated  by  Luther, 
the  question  of  celibacy  was  not  at  first  given  a  prominent 
place.  By  the  summer  of  1520,  however,  Luther  had  formed 
his  opinion  concerning  celibacy  for  the  secular  clergy,  and 
although  still  acknowledging  the  legality  of  monastic  vows, 
denied  that  the  church  had  the  authority  to  demand  a  vow  of 
chastity  from  priests.  The  arguments  against  celibacy  which 
he  adduced  were  those  which  had  been  used  by  its  opponents 
for  many  centuries,  namely,  that  celibacy  was  not  enjoined  by 
Christ,  but  was  of  human  invention,  and  that  it  produced  in- 
numerable evil  results.^ 

During  the  years  1 521 -1523  the  parish  priests  of  Germany, 
conscious  that  the  danger  of  punishment  by  the  old  ecclesias- 
tical authorities  was  lessening,  and  sure  of  the  approval  of  their 
congregations,  began  to  marry. 2  From  this  time  the  practice 
of  clerical  marriage  accompanied  the  spread  of  the  Revolution, 
save  in  England,  where  it  was  not  definitely  established  and 
legahzed  until  1559,  about  twenty-five  years  after  the  opening 
of  the  revolt  there. 

The  great  reforming  Council  of  Trent  completed  the  theory 

of  the  Council  of  Ratisbon  summoned  by  him  in  1524.  Paribus  sententiis 
receptum  fuit,  hanc  perditissimam  haeresim  rudi  populo  plausibilem  ob 
libertam  illi  falso  persuasam  prastextu  evangelicse  charitatis,  non  parvam 
habuisse  occasionem,  partim  a  perditis  moribus  et  vita  clericorum.  .  .  . 
Const,  ad  removendos  abusus  per  D.  Laurentium  Card.,  etc.  Fasc.  Rer. 
Expet.  ac  Fug.  f.  211. 

*  My  advice  further  is,  whoever  henceforth  is  ordained  priest,  he  should  in  no 
wise  take  the  vow  of  chastity,  but  should  protest  to  the  bishop  that  he  has  no 
authority  to  demand  this  vow,  and  that  it  is  a  devilish  tyranny  to  demand  it. 
Luther's  Addre-ss  to  the  German  nobility.  The  Ninety-five  Theses  and  Three 
Primary  Works  of  Dr.  Martin  Luther.  Wace  and  Buchheim,  p.  60.  This 
(celibacy)  has  been  the  cause  of  .so  much  mi.sery  that  it  cannot  be  told,  and 
has  given  occasion  to  the  Grrek  church  to  separate  from  us,  and  has  caused 
infinite  disunion,  sin,  shame  and  scandal,  like  everything  that  the  devil 
does  or  suggests.  Now,  what  are  we  to  do?  My  advice  is  to  restore  liberty, 
and  to  leave  every  man  free  to  marry  or  not  to  marry.     lb.  p.  59. 

'  Spalatini  Annales,  1521,  1522,  1523. 


53 

of  sacerdotal  celibacy  by  erecting  it  into  a  doctrine.  The 
doctrinal  canons  concerning  the  sacrament  of  matrimony 
enacted  by  the  twenty-fourth  session  of  the  Council  (Nov. 
1563)  declare  anathema  all  who  assert  that  those  in  hoty  orders 
are  capable  of  contracting  a  valid  marriage.  It  also  anathe- 
matized those  who  maintained  that  marriage  was  superior  to 
virginity,  or  that  it  was  not  better  and  more  blessed  to  remain  a 
celibate  than  to  be  joined  in  wedlock.  ^  To  cover  with  the 
opprobrium  of  heresy  those  who  resisted  the  rule  of  celibacy, 
or  refused  to  accept  it  as  an  article  of  faith,  was  the  last  resort 
in  the  attempt  to  enforce  it. 

The  disciplinary  canons  of  the  Council  of  Trent  were  not 
more  stringent  or  severe  than  those  of  the  past.  Ecclesias- 
tics were  prohibited  from  maintaining  wives  or  other  women, 
either  at  their  own  houses  or  elsewhere.  ^  The  offenders  who 
did  not  reform  after  one  admonition  were  to  lose  one  third 
of  the  fruits  of  their  benefices;  if  still  disobedient,  they  were 
to  be  deprived  of  all  ecclesiastical  income  and  office  until 
manifest  reform  warranted  a  dispensation.  A  relapse  follow- 
ing upon  these  penalties  was  to  be  punished  by  irrevocable  de- 
privation of  benefices  and  honors,  along  with  excommunica- 
tion.^ The  illegitimate  sons  of  ecclesiastics  were  forliidden  to 
hold  benefices  in  the  same  parishes  with  their  fathers,  and  all 
so  offending,  who  did  not  resign  within  three  months  and  seek 

'  Si  quifl  dixerit,  clericos  in  sacris  ()rclirr:liuscon.stitutxis,  vol  reRviIarcs,  cjisti- 
tatem  Bolemnitcr  profcssos,  po.s.sc  niatriiiKniiiim  contriiherc,  coiitnicdimiiiie 
validtim  nssf,  noii  ohstiuilr  Icixf  (•(•(•ic.si!i.slic;i,  vcl  voto;  et  oppositiiiii  iiiliil 
aliud  enac,  (|ii.'Uii  dainiiarc  matriiiioniiim;  po.ssecpie  oninrs  cniitralicn'  iiialri- 
monium,  qui  non  snnliunt  se  castitatis,  etiamsi  eain  vovcrinl,  Ii.iIkic  <i()iiimi; 
anathema  sit;  .   .   .  Con.  Tridont.  Ho.ss.  24.  c.  9.     Maniuiii,  10,  lis. 

Si  qiii.-H  dixerit,  atatiim  coiijuK.alorii  aiitcponendiiin  v.shv.  ntaliii  virjiiiiilat  Ih 
vol  ca-lihatiis;  et,  non  es.se  melius  iir  hcatiii.s  manere  in  vir^initate  aiit,  ca-lihatu 
quam  jimgi  matrimonio;  anathema  Hit,     e.   K)       11). 

'     .    .   .   prohihrt  Hancta  .svnodii.s  (|niliiisciiin<|iic  ciiTiciH,  ne  coneniiiiias,  ant 

alia.s  nmliere.M,  de  finil)ii,s  po.s.sit  haheri  HU.spitio,  in  domo,  vel  extra,  detiiiere, 
aut  cum  iis  ullam  ronHuetndinpm  hiiMere  audeant;  .   .  .  Con.  Trident.  Sees. 
25.     Dec.  de  Ref.  rap.   11       Il.irduiii,   10,   186. 
'  11). 


54 

appointment  elsewhere,  were  to  be  punished  by  loss  of  bene- 
fice. 1  These  canons  are  the  law  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
to-day. 

'  Ut  paternre  incontinentiiB  memoria  a  locis  Deo  consecratis,  quos  maxime 
puritas  sanctitasque  decet,  longissime  arceatur;  non  liceat  filiis  clericorum,  qui 
non  ex  legitimo  nati  sunt  matrimonio,  in  ecclesiis,  ubi  eorum  patres  bene- 
ficium  aliquod  ecclesiasticum  habent  aut  habuerunt,  quodcumque  etiam 
dissimile  beneficium  obtinere;  nee  in  dictis  ecclesiis  quoque  modo  ministrare, 
nee  pensiones  super  fructibus  beneficiorum,  quse  parentes  eorum  obtinent, 
vel  alias  obtinuerunt,  habere.  Con.  Trident.  Sess.  25.  Dec.  de  Ref.  cap.  15. 
Harduin,  10,  187. 


LIST  OF  WORKS  USED  IN  THE  PREPARATION  OF  THIS 

THESIS. 

d'Achery,  Spicilegium  sive  CoUectio  veterum  aliquot  Scriptorum.     13  vol. 

Parisiis,  1655.     3  vol.     Parisiis,  1723. 
Baluzius,  Vitae  Paparum.     Parisiis,  1693. 
Bibliotheca  Magna  Patnim.     17  vol.     Parisiis,  1654. 
BocQUET,  Le  C^Iibat  Eccl^siastique.     Paris,  1895. 
Chartier,  Oeuvres,  Le  Curial.     Paris,  1529. 
Carthusiantjs,  DioNYSius,  Opera  Minora.     Coloniae,  1532. 
Celtes,  Elegia  Amorum.     Viennae  et  Norimbergae,  1502. 
Corpus  Juris  Canonici.     Edited  by  Friedberg.     2  tomi.     Lipsiaj,  1881. 
Corpus  Juris  Civilis.     Edited   by    Mommsen    &  Krueger.     3  vol.     Bonn, 

1877-99. 
Dlugossus,  Historiae  Poloniae  Libri  XII.     Francofurti,  1711. 
Duchesne  L.     Liber  Pontificalis.     2  tomes.     Paris,  1886,  1892, 
Fasciculus  Rerum  Expetendarum  ac  Fugiendarum.     Coloniae,  1535. 
Freher,  Rerum  Germanicarum  scriptores.     3  vol.     Argentorati,  1717. 
Fuero  Juzgo.     Madrid,    1815. 

Gale,  Historian Britannici, Saxonica;,  Anglo-Danicae Scriptores.  Oxonise,  1691. 
Gerson,  Opera  Omnia.     Anterpiae,  1706. 

Goldabt,  Collectio  constitutionum  imperialium.     4  vol.  Francofurti,  1713. 
Hardt  von  der,  Magnum  Ecumenicum  Constantiense  Concilium.     0  tomi. 

Francofurti  et  Lip.sia-,  1 690- 1700. 
'Harduin,  Acta  Conciliorum  et  epistolffi  decretales  ac  constitutioncs  Sum- 

raorum  Pontificum.     12  tomi.     Parisiis,   1715. 
Hartzheim,   Concilia  Gormania;.     10   tomi.     Colonijr,    1759-1775. 
Hadoan  &  STunnH,  Councils  and  Ecclesiastical  Documents  relating  to  Greiit 

Britain  and  Ireland.     3  vol.  Oxford.  1869-78. 
Hekele,  Conciliengeschichte.      Zweite  Auflage.      9  Biliide.      Freiburg  im 

Breiflgau. 
HiNHCHius,  System  de.s  Katholi.schcn  Kirchenrechts.  7  Bilndc.   Berlin,  1890. 
Hunt,  The  English    Church    from    its    Foundation    to    the   Norman   Con- 

qiiest.      Ivonfiori,  1899. 
Jaffk,  Bibliotheca   Horum   Germanicarum.     0  tomi.     Bcrolini,  1865. 
Jubtinianus,  Opera  Omnia.  Venetiis,  1721. 
Lea,  An  Historical  Sketch  of  Sacerdotal  Celibacy  in  the  Christian  Church. 

Boston,  1884. 
Martene  et  Durand,    TheaauruB  Novua  Ancedot/>nim.     5  tomi.     Lutetise 

Parisiorum,  1717. 
Mansi,  Sacrorum  Conciliorum  nova  ct  amplissima  collectio. 


56 

Mapes,  Latin  Poems,  edited  by  Thos.  Wright.     Camden  Society  Publica- 
tions, vol.  16.     London  1S41. 
MiLMAN,  History  of  Latin  Christianity.     8  vols.     New  York,  1881. 
Mouumenta  Germaniae  Historica;  Scriptores,  Leges,  Epistolse,  and  Libelli 

de  Lite. 
MiGNE,  Patrologiae  Cursus  Completus,  Series  Grseca,  Series  Latina. 
Novellae    constitutiones    imperatorum    Theodosii    IL,    edited   by    Gustav 

Friedrich  Haenel.     Bonn,  1842.     (Being  vol.  2  pt.  2  of  Corpus  Juris 

Romani  Antejustiniani  ed.  by  Edward  Bocking.) 
Peterffy,  Sacra  Concilia  Ecclesiae  Romano-Catholicai  in  Regno    Hungariae 

Celebrata.    Viennse,  1742. 
Pontoppidan,  Annates  Ecclesiae  Danicae  Diplomatici.     Copenhagen,  1741. 
Rerum  Britannicarum  Medii  Aevi  Scriptores,  Published  under  the  direction 

of  the  Master  of  the  Rolls. 
RusBROCHius,  Opera  Onmia.     Coloniae,  1692. 
ScHAFF  &  Wace,  Select  Library  of  Nicene  and  Post-Nicene  Fathers  of   the 

Christian  Church.    New  York,  1890  ff. 
SociETE  DE  l'histoire   DE   France.     Ouvrages  publies  par  la 

201  vols.     Paris,  1834  ff. 
Trithemius,  Opera  pia  et  spiritualia,  Moguntise,  1604. 
Thorpe,  Ancient  Laws  and  Institutes  of  England.     2  vols.     London,  1840. 
Tudeschi,  Lectura.     Basiliaj,   1477. 
Wace  &  Buchheim,   Ninety-five  Theses  and  Three  Primary  Works  of  Dr. 

Martin  Luther.     London,  1883. 
Walch,  Monumenta  Medii  Aevi.     Gottingse,  1757-60. 
WiLKiNS.  Concilia  Magnae  Britanniae,  1446-1717.     London,  1737. 


Earl  Evelyn  Sperry  was  bom  in  Jordan,  N.  Y.,  February 
19,  1875.  His  common  school  education  was  begun  in  the  public 
schools  of  that  town,  continued  in  those  of  Coldwater,  Mich.,  and 
completed  at  the  High  School  of  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  from  which 
he  graduated  in  January,  1893.  In  September,  1894,  he 
entered  Syracuse  University  and  in  June,  1898,  received  the 
degree  Bachelor  of  Philosophy.  After  spending  the  following 
year  there  in  further  study  and  in  teaching,  he  was  awarded 
a  scholarship  in  European  History  at  Columbia  University 
and  the  next  year,  1900-1901,  was  University  Fellow  in  History 
there.  He  passed  his  examinations  for  the  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Philosophy  in  May,  1901,  and  spent  the  following  year  in 
Europe.  After  returning  home  he  was  appointed  Instructor 
in  European  History  at  Syracuse  University. 


UKIVEESITY  OF  CALIFORNIi 
AT 


Q()2'^ 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA   LIKRARV 


University  of  California 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

305  De  Neve  Drive  -  Parking  Lot  17  •  Box  951388 

LOS  ANGELES,  CALIFORNIA  90095-1388 

Return  this  material  to  the  library  from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


1975 


^ 


ECCL 


Porr 


II  INI  II 

3   1 


58  00736  8342 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

P!  Ill  ill  |l!  i|||ll|l  '!"i"'Tiri! 


l\  U\  \    I  |[|  I  [lllll! 


AA    000  631  996    6 


^^m 


University  o 
Southern 
Library  I 

i 

i 


